Lebanese Shiite Mufti of Tyre Ali Al-Amin Harshly Criticizes Hizbullah for Its Conduct in the Recent Conflict

Following are excerpts from two interviews with Shiite Mufti of Tyre Sheik Ali Al-Amin, which aired on LBC TV on August 26, 2006 and September 5, 2006.

Sheik Ali Al-Amin: With regard to the [Hizbullah] victory, as it has been called - I don't believe it was such a victory... I don't want to get into an argument about the meaning of victory, but I ask: Were we in such a state of defeat before July 12 that we needed such a "great" and "strategic" victory following July 12?

Interviewer: When posters Hassan Nasrallah are raised in the streets of Arab cities and in the [Sunni] Al-Azhar University - shouldn't this be considered a victory for Hizbullah?

Sheik Ali Al-Amin: In Arabic, we have both truth and figurative language. This may be a victory in the figurative sense, a moral victory. This is not entirely impossible. But if "strategic victory" refers to our bombing of Haifa... Saddam Hussein attacked Tel Aviv with Scud missiles - was that a strategic victory as well? We were not in a state of defeat before July 12. We were winning, and we had an important and great achievement, which we should have preserved.

Interviewer: What achievement are you talking about?

Sheik Ali Al-Amin: The achievement of the year 2000. Before July 12, we still had this achievement, and there was a possibility [for Hizbullah] to be incorporated in the state, rather than have such a war imposed on us.

Interviewer: But the issue of the Shaba' Farms still remained, and this has always been the pretext for continuing the resistance operations, and even for the capturing of the Israeli soldiers.

Sheik Ali Al-Amin: But now, after July 12, they accepted that the Shaba' Farms issue could be resolved through diplomatic means, through the U.N. This was possible before July 12.

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