Hezbollah MPs warn of an 'explosion' and attack the state as 'subservient'

Hezbollah lawmakers stepped up their attacks on the Lebanese state on Monday, calling the authorities "subservient" and "foreign-dependent" and condemning what they called US interference, Naharnet reported.

MP Ibrahim al-Moussawi warned that "an explosion is on the brink", while MP Ali Fayyad said the authorities were driving the country to "dangerous internal tension" and held the state responsible for the consequences. Bloc head Mohammad Raad called efforts to criticise the group a "national and moral crime" committed on American instructions.

The remarks followed a call in which US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged President Joseph Aoun not to return several hundred kilograms of explosives seized from Hezbollah at Dahr al-Baidar, and asked Lebanon to scrap its 1955 boycott law.

The government declared all Hezbollah military activity illegal in March. Threats of an "explosion" against the state and its institutions are unacceptable: decisions of war, peace and arms belong to the Lebanese state alone, and disputes must be settled through the constitution and the courts.