A defiant Lebanese President Emile Lahoud vowed to fight any aggressors that step foot on Lebanese soil in a sit-down interview with CTV News, asserting there is nothing left to lose now but their land and honour.

"Lebanese are proud people. Small in number but they will fight. Fight any aggressor that will come to Lebanon. They will win at the end," he told CTV's Janis Mackey Frayer on Tuesday at the presidential palace in the Baabda district of Beirut.

"I can tell you we have arrived to a point where nothing counts anymore except our land and our honour. This maybe is something that is not accounted for in some countries in the west and the U.S."

Lahoud accused Israel of seeking to control the Middle East by subverting its surrounding nations into "mini-states."

Despite their efforts though, Lahoud is adamant that Israeli forces will never topple the Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"I said it day one. Nobody believed me. They thought Israel would finish with Hezbollah in three days. I said they will never get Hezbollah," he said.

"We know that when an army is much stronger than the other you can only fight it with guerrilla warfare. Hezbollah, the resistance, is the guerrilla that can stand in the face of Israel and it's working."

The bloody offensive is also serving to mobilize the ranks of Lebanese civilians and unite them in their hatred of Israel, Lahoud warned.

"They're destroying the country thinking the Lebanese will fight each other and make Hezbollah stop. They're not. The Lebanese are getting more united. At the same time the resistance is getting even stronger."

"Because when somebody is losing his children, his wife, his mother and all that they will never forget. So it will add up hatred in the Middle East, so it will not be a new Middle East -- it will be a Middle East of hatred which we don't want," he added.

"What is worst of all is that the children now don't know what's happening. All they know is fear. And when they grow up, I mean, it will be difficult to erase from their memory what is happening now."

While Lahoud was forthright on the dominance of Hezbollah, he neatly side-stepped commenting on charges he is seen as pro-Syria and whether this neighbouring nation has the power to stop the guerrilla group.

"Well I can tell you that Syria now is happy to have left Lebanon. And because of that, since it has left, it has not been mingling into Lebanese politics. All it is doing now is sending help, humanitarian help to the borders," he said.

The following is a selection of questions and answers from the interview:

Frayer: Mr. President, if I could begin by asking, can you describe in your own words how this conflict is affecting your country?

Lahoud: It is destroying my country. As you see, there is mass destruction. Everywhere, the infrastructure. Everything is being destroyed. We have had now more than 1,200 killed -- mainly children, old and women. We have more than 3,000 wounded. And it's going on. Everyday there is a new surprise for Lebanon, a new massacre.... The airport is not functioning anymore. Harbours are not functioning. They don't allow even to get the fuel and sometimes food. Whenever they felt like it they allow convoys to pass. And sometimes they don't.

Frayer: Why are they doing this?

Lahoud: Why? There are many reasons. There is a long conflict between Lebanon and Israel that goes back for years. And I can tell you that we have had Lebanon, especially Beirut, destroyed by Israel seven times. And why? Because, firstly, Israel has occupied the land of Lebanon and we recuperated most of it by liberating, by force, our land and that they cannot forget -- they want to get revenge.

Second, we still have land, we want them but they don't want to give it back, (they) keep the conflict going on and at the same time Israel doesn't want a prosperous Lebanon on its borders because as you know we have a very well educated young ... and if Lebanese are prosperous it would be competition with Israel.

And finally, and unfortunately, a big plan has been drawn up for the whole Middle East -- what they call the 'New Middle East' -- saying there will be freedom of speech and democracy, but believe me we have it already in Lebanon, it's the country where there is the most media and free speech.

Frayer: So what then is it going to take in order for a ceasefire to work, if there is this long history of animosity between Lebanon and Israel?

Lahoud: The only way is to stop the fire, sit around the table, and talk about all these things. Once and for all. But it seems Israel doesn't want that. It wants to have mini-states subdued by the most powerful state in the area. Now that we have a force that stands in the face of Israel, they say you must finish with that force and then we'll talk. We're saying, 'If you finish with that force, then you will not talk, you will do like you did before we had the resistance.' And that's the main problem we have now.

Frayer: This resistance you refer to is of course Hezbollah. How important a force is Hezbollah in Lebanon?

Lahoud: I said it day one. Nobody believed me. They thought Israel would finish with Hezbollah in three days. I said they will never get Hezbollah. Why? Because being an ex-military -- and I learned in the U.S. war college -- and we know that when an army is much stronger than the other you can only fight it with guerrilla warfare. Hezbollah, the resistance, is the guerrilla that can stand in the face of Israel and it's working. And they'll never get it. Because they can't get it, they're destroying the country thinking the Lebanese will fight each other and make Hezbollah stop. They're not. The Lebanese are getting more united. At the same time the resistance is getting even stronger.

Frayer: Do you believe in what Hezbollah is doing?

Lahoud: I believe that Israel should not be doing (attacking Lebanon) all these years. .. and doing massacres, and nobody is telling her anything. Nobody is blaming her. If they blamed her only once then believe me she will think twice before doing these massacres.

Frayer: The UN Security Council is going to be debating a resolution that will eventually see a peace keeping force in southern Lebanon. Any attempts in the past seem to have failed. What would make it work this time?

Lahoud: Yesterday a positive step was taken by the Lebanese ... and that is to send the Lebanese army, 15,000 of them, to the south, on condition that they withdraw from our land.

I don't want to be pessimistic, but Israel got us used to her and we know that every time it comes to a point where they could be a kind of peace, Israel will throw it away and find any excuse to continue its wars.

Frayer: Will the army fight alongside Hezbollah if need be. Will the army fight Israel?

Lahoud: Of course. If the army is being attacked, if the land of Lebanon is being occupied, it is the duty of the Lebanese army to fight Israel. This is a National Lebanese Army that will fight for its land. And Hezbollah is a national resistance that is complementary to that army.

Frayer: Much is being made of Syria's influence. You are seen as an ally of Syria. Do you believe Syria has the power to stop Hezbollah? Should it?

Lahoud: Well I can tell you that Syria now is happy to have left Lebanon. And because of that, since it has left, it has not been mingling into Lebanese politics. All it is doing now is sending help, humanitarian help to the borders.

Frayer: What about Iran? Does it wield influence here? Is that an influence that should be feared?

Lahoud: No, because you see, as I said at the beginning ... what is happening is that this is a Lebanese problem 100 per cent. But because the resistance can stand in the face of Israel and Israel cannot accept that, so they say behind it there is Iran and Syria and maybe some other countries. But in fact everybody knows everything is closed. And the ones that are fighting are all Lebanese. And the cause of the fight are all Lebanese demands. So it's purely Lebanese, but the media with the propaganda that they have (Israel) in the world, (they say they're fighting) Iran and Syria in Lebanon. Do you see any Iranians or Syrians fighting in Lebanon? This is the misconception they get in the West, in the U.S., that they are fighting, there are two blocs fighting. No. It's Lebanon, this small beautiful Lebanon, with its national resistance, national army that are fighting. (It's) Israel that's getting all the modern weaponry --even the U.S. hasn't tried them in war. They get them from the U.S. And they pound Lebanon.

Frayer: Eighteen months ago George Bush held up Lebanon as the example of the new Middle East, the democracy project in the Middle East. How do you see the new Middle East right now?

Lahoud: Well, I can tell you that Lebanon has always been the model of democracy in the whole Middle East.  Every time Lebanon flourishes, becomes strong, economically and everything is going fine they find an excuse in Israel to do something and destroy everything. And we rebuild it. Because the Lebanese are really very resourceful people. And they can do sometimes miracles. But this time they put everything they have in Israel so that Lebanon cannot stand up again. Well they are very mistaken. They are not going to take our land. Believe me, Lebanese are proud people. Small in number but they will fight. Fight any aggressor that will come to Lebanon. They will win at the end. I can tell you we have arrived to a point where nothing counts anymore except our land and our honour. This maybe is something that is not accounted for in some countries in the west and the U.S.

Frayer: Are you saying Lebanon is at its breaking point?

Lahoud: I think Lebanon will never break. But ... if it goes on I think it will be bad to all countries in the region and especially to Israel.

Frayer: Are you surprised at the inactivity or the silence of the international community, including the Arab leaders?

Lahoud: I can tell you at the very beginning, the Arab leaders said that the resistance would stay only three days ... Ten days later all the Arab leaders were with Lebanon because Lebanon could stand in the face of Israel and now all the Arabs are with Lebanon.  Europeans are the same ... and I assure you that the populations are with Lebanon. The only country is the U.S. administration and not the people of the U.S. because if the people of the U.S. know what is happening to this small country, they wouldn't accept (the U.S.) giving the green light to Israel to continue its aggression and massacre.

They killed four UN observers, why? Because one day before Mr. Annan said we must stop the fight, the next day they were hit and they (Israel) said it was by mistake. They never make a mistake. They have smart bombs and they get it exactly on the head.

Frayer: What about Canada's policy? The Canadian government to this point has been falling in line with what the U.S. is saying. Are you surprised?

Lahoud: Canada is something else than the U.S. Because the people, many of the Lebanese new generation went to Canada and they are in constant contact with Lebanon so they know what's happening. So most of the Canadian population know exactly how Lebanon is suffering and they are with Lebanon. But the Canadian administration is not been putting vetoes on Lebanon. Of course it has interests with the U.S. administration. It's not going to prefer Lebanon to the U.S. but we know it can feel with us.

Frayer: Who do you believe has the power to stop this conflict?

Lahoud: To stop the fighting?

Frayer: Yes.

Lahoud: The U.S. If now they tell Israel to stop they will stop. Believe me.

Frayer: Why do you think they've not yet said stop?

Lahoud: Because they have the idea of the new Middle East ...

Frayer: How long do you think it's going to take for Lebanon to recover?

Lahoud: I think if they stop now, it will not take a long time to get to normal, to get life back to normal, but what will take time is to rebuild big bridges, airports and all the infrastructure that was hit.

At the same time they're making hatred in Lebanon. Hatred to everything that is coming from Israel. Because when somebody is losing his children, his wife, his mother and all that they will never forget. So it will add up hatred in the Middle East, so it will not be a new Middle East -- it will be a Middle East of hatred which we don't want. What is worst of all is that the children now don't know what's happening. All they know is fear. And when they grow up, I mean, it will be difficult to erase from their memory what is happening now.