Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said Monday that the role of the US in the region is diminishing and thus weakening the Jewish state.
"We are amid historical transformations that signal the retreat of the US role and the demise of the Hebrew State," opposition leader Nasrallah told journalists via a video feed in Beirut's southern suburbs.
"The most dangerous aspect of the US logic is that they think they own the world and are entitled to dominate it, based on superiority in several domains," the Hezbollah leader said.
But Nasrallah said that his movement does not underestimate current challenges and threats or the severity of any possible confrontation with the US and Israel, historical foes of Hezbollah.
Because of the Israeli threat perceived by Hezbollah, Nasrallah said Lebanon has no choice but to rely on his movement for its defence, in addition to the Lebanese army.
The statement hints that Nasrallah believes his group still wants to hold on to its supplies of arms to resist Israel, despite an international resolution calling for the movement's disarmament.
"Resistance movements are at the heart of international transformations and emerge as a strategic factor after performing a central role in producing those transformations in our region," he said.
Nasrallah touched on the group's new manifesto and said this document would give a new impetus to the Shiite group's "political and ideological plans."
Nasrallah was re-elected head of Hezbollah earlier this month
following a congress that also adopted the new manifesto, which has so far not been widely distributed.
Hezbollah's first manifesto in 1985 called for the establishment of Islamic rule in Lebanon. But the party leadership has toned down its rhetoric in recent years as it gained political clout.
