Hizbollah Chief Vows to Keep Arms

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http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5700596&cKey=1113936646000

BEIRUT, April 19 (Reuters) - The leader of Lebanon's Hizbollah group called a U.N. Security Council demand to disarm meaningless on Tuesday and said his guerrillas would keep their weapons as long as Israel posed a threat to the country.

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, in a rare interview with an international news organization, said the Syrian-backed movement was recognized as a legitimate resistance group by Lebanese and was not a militia as described in the U.S.-sponsored resolution.

"That article has no meaning," Nasrallah said in the interview, which followed the formation of a new government to take Lebanon to a parliamentary election set for May.

"I say clearly, there are two reasons for the resistance: occupied land and the threat of aggression. When the threat of aggression ceases to exist and there is no occupied land, there is no reason for resistance," Nasrallah told Reuters.

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