A senior Hezbollah official Monday vowed to support the Lebanese army in its battle against militants in northeast Lebanon, saying the party and citizens were ready to defend the country, The Daily Star reported.
"We will not leave the Army alone and we all back the Army whose blood is mixed with citizens confronting the Israeli aggression and in defense of Lebanon and its independence," Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek said.
"We will not accept to be occupied and we will not accept our nation to be occupied."
"I ask residents of villages that are close the clashes to be ready to face the [militants] ... we should all be ready," he said.
"Whoever threatens to divide the Army and defect from it, we say that neither Lebanon or Bekaa is Mosul," he said, referring to Iraq's northern city, which has been overrun by militants with the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq ad Greater Syria.
"We will not allow for our mosques or churches to be destroyed and we will defend with all our might, and we will not hesitate to do so."
"Whoever is financing them [the militants], their money will bring them no benefit and will turn on them in time. Arsal is hostage to dollars and Takfiri thoughts, its residents are innocent but paying the price of those who sold Arsal," he concluded.