BEIRUT: Health Minister Ali Hasan Khalil said Sunday that the resistance in Lebanon is a sign of strength and should be protected by its citizens. “Our strength lies in resistance, and resistance is not only an armed body.

Resistance is culture, awareness and generations that have made sacrifices and were raised on opposing injustice and occupation,” Khalil tweeted.

“Resistance is a deep-rooted culture not only in the South, but across Lebanon. It is the culture of true national belonging, which makes us all responsible for [strengthening] it,” he added.

The minister, who is also a political aide to the leader of the Amal Movement, Speaker Nabih Berri, added that the entire country would lose if the resistance becomes weaker.

“We should not engage in betting and calculations that weaken [the resistance] ... and prevent it from surviving in a world where there is no place for the weak,” Khalil said.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah warned last week against attempts by some officials in Lebanon to spark sectarian strife between Sunnis and Shiites.

Nasrallah argues that Israel and the U.S. are planning to drag Hezbollah into internal sectarian conflict after earlier attempts to eliminate the party didn’t work.

Khalil added he is against strife in Lebanon because he adheres to the saying of Amal founder Imam Musa Sadr, that preserving civil peace in Lebanon is the best means to resist Israel.