Speech of Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah delivered on the 13th August 2008
Sayyed Nasrallah: We Must Overcome Problems of Past
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah addressed the
Lebanese Thursday night in a televised speech to mark the 2nd
anniversary of the 2006 victory on Israel.
Before he began his speech, Sayyed Nasrallah offered sincere
condolences to the families of the martyrs who fell in the Tripoli
bombing a day earlier, in which 15 people were killed including 10
Lebanese army soldiers. “I send my condolences to the martyrs of the
Lebanese army and the citizens killed in the Tripoli bombing.
This crime must be a motivation for all of us to come out of tension
to cooperation to uplift our country,” his eminence said.
“Two years on, the magnitude of the war, the extent of the
aggression, the danger, the huge military and security capabilities
used by the enemy, the extent of the regional and international
collusion become clearer. On the other hand, the steadfastness, the
challenge taken by the resistance, the people and the army to
confront the war and the collusion, confirm day after day that what
had taken place in the July war projects the magnitude of the
potential energy in Lebanon and the nation. Two years on, it becomes
more evident that what happened in this war was a real miracle and a
a Divine victory.”
Sayyed Nasrallah stressed threats made by Zionist leaders and
Israel’s campaign of intimidation over the arms of the resistance is
a failed campaign “and will only lead to more failures and more fear
for the Israelis themselves.” The Hezbollah chief also said that
keeping the resistance’s defensive power undisclosed is part of the
battle against Israel, “and as for you and your threats…you can go
to hell.”
"There has been an Israeli uproar about the reinforcement of
Hezbollah’s strength. There has been talk of sophisticated arms and
an air defense system and threats if Hezbollah uses this kind of
system. No one can expect me to stand up and say whether we possess
new weapons or we don't. This is part of directing the battle of
liberation and resistance against this enemy." “For instance, the
Israeli army did not know that the Resistance had land-to-sea
missiles, or the magnitude of its anti-tanks missiles,” he added.
Sayyed Nasrallah asserted that "the results of the war are evident
even today, in both the military and political fields in Israel." He
said Israel is facing the worst leadership crisis in its history.
"The entire front line of the army's brass stepped down because of
the war. Gal Hirsch, who was defeated in Lebanon, went to Georgia
and they too lost because of him," his eminence said.
For the past seven years, Israeli companies have been helping the
Georgian army to preparer for war against Russia through arms deals,
training of infantry units and security advice
Hirsch, a brigadier-general in the reserves, served as commander of
the Israeli Army’s Galilee Division during the war and resigned in
its wake. In recent years he consulted the Georgian army on the
establishment of elite units and rearmament, and gave various
courses in the fields of combat intelligence and fighting in
built-up areas.
"Relying on Israeli experts and weapons, Georgia learned why the
Israeli generals failed. What happened in Georgia is a message to
all those who accept that Washington entangles them in adventures,
miscalculated wars and dead-end confrontation. In the end, the US
(administration) will abandon them because its interests are above
anything else, just as they did to their allies in Lebanon.”
Sayyed Nasrallah addressed recent comments by Israel’s Defense
Minister Ehud Barak regarding the ‘importance of having an
experienced leadership.’
"Ehud Barak admits that the reason for losing the war was a lack of
military experience. So who is there left in Israel with military
experience if not all those failed generals? Those who stand against
us today are the same failures who have already suffered blows from
us before. Is it Barak or Ashkenazi who failed against the
resistance as head of the Northern Command? Israeli newspapers have
said that (PM Ehud) Olmert died two years ago in Lebanon and will be
brought to political burial in two months," the Hezbollah chide
said.
"This September we will see the end of Israeli Prime Minister
Olmert's rule. I remember Barak's speeches back when he was the
enemy's prime minister in 2000. Need I remind him that he set the
date of the withdrawal (from Lebanon) in July and we forced him to
pull out in May?"
Sayyed Nasrallah accused Israel of seeking to assassinate Hezbollah
commanders. "I tell the Zionists: We don't fear you. Say whatever
you want and do whatever you want. We know that you are planning new
assassinations of resistance leaders. But this will not make us
retreat," he said.
"If you the Zionists are thinking of attacking Lebanon ... I promise
great surprises that could alter the fate of the war and the region,
God willing. I said that in order to prevent a war. Israel must
understand that any war on Lebanon will have a very high price."
Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that one of the outcomes of the July War
is the strengthening of the culture of Resistance, in contrast to
the culture of surrender in Lebanon and the Arab region. “This new
awareness is stretching toward Palestine and Iraq,” he said.
“The war has also has continuing repercussions at the regional
level, for the project of the New Middle East promoted by the US has
been put on hold and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is no
longer raising this matter. This project would have led to the
division of Lebanon and the Arab world.
Also Israel is still confused in its dealings with Palestinians in
the Gaza Strip and is also negotiating with Syria and seeking to
disengage Damascus from Iran.
Israel is terrorized by the Iranian Islamic Republic and is hesitant
whether to attack or not.
The percentage of voters in Iraqi elections does not negate the high
percentage supporting resistance because the Iraqis want to rescue
their country’s military and democracy,” Sayyed Nasrallah pointed
out.
Throughout these last two years, his eminence added, we have lived
with the danger of Israeli and Western conspiracies. At the same
time the strong will of the resistance and population has shown
itself.
“The United States and Israel tried to split the Lebanese along
sectarian lines and to describe Hezbollah as a terrorist group in
order to weaken it during the 33-day war. They wanted to tear us
apart. They wanted to use war to isolate us one country after the
other, one people after the other, one sect after the other and one
party after the other. When we are divided, they will win and we
will be defeated.
The most serious accusation was the sectarian issue. They told the
Christians that the fighting was with a Muslim group and that it has
nothing to do with you. They told Sunni Muslims that the fighting
was with a Shiite group and was targeting the Shiite project in the
region,” he explained.
His eminence also explained that since the end of the war, Israel
has set a in motion a plan for the international community aimed at
pressuring states providing the Resistance with weapons, freezing
assets of people supporting it and also influencing the UN Security
Council to apply pressure and disarm Hezbollah.
“The disarmament of the Resistance is a stated Israeli goal, it is
not a secret. I say to the Israelis that their pressure will not
lead to any result.”
Sayyed Nasrallah in this context addressed some Lebanese MPs who
have been assailing Hezbollah, particularly at parliament.
“The Resistance is a solid project based on solid pillars. A few
angry speeches cannot change anything in the scene, all this chaos
is useless, and the resistance is much stronger. Let us put aside
all that provokes the street and instead deal positively with this
new phase. If we unite and cooperate and respect the ministerial
statement, Israel cannot achieve anything against Lebanon.”
The Hezbollah chief also hailed the visit to Syria by Lebanon's
President Michel Suleiman, calling it "a new stage" in relations
between Beirut and Damascus “that we hope will be the foundation of
new ties.”
Sayyed Nasrallah said he was more determined than ever to discuss a
national defense strategy for Lebanon.
"We insist, now more than anytime before, on the need to discuss and
come up with a defense strategy for Lebanon so that we all know how
we can defend our country."
"Coming up with a national strategy to rebuild the Lebanese state -
and this is not an invitation to change the Taif Agreement -
as well as a strategy to settle the deep-rooted economic and social
problems are two crucial items to be discussed," he added.
Nasrallah said that he has informed President Suleiman's advisers of
the need to debate these issues during roundtable talks.
He described the economic situation in Lebanon as "a total
disaster," stressing that failing to deal with this problem "will
lead to a total collapse of the Lebanese economy."
On the successful Operation Al-Redwan, Sayyed Nasrallah said he will
hold a press conference in the near future to announce the results
of the DNA tests that will be undertaken on still unidentified
remains of martyrs retrieved from Israel. “With this second
commemoration, Lebanese detainees in Israel have been released and
are now back in Lebanon. I will hold a press conference to comment
on the issue of the detainees in Lebanon including the four
generals, the missing in Lebanon and Syria and there will also be
DNA tests to identify the corpses of martyrs Dalal Mughrabi and
Yehya Skaff and others.”
The Hezbollah chief said that “some are demanding that we salute
Beirut.”
“We are no aliens to Beirut. We are an integral part of the capital
and we wish all the best to Beirut and its residents.
We salute Beirut, Mount Lebanon, and the North of Lebanon that is
still bleeding. We also salute the Bekka South Lebanon and Dahiyeh.
We salute every village and family supporting the Resistance.
I bow before all the martyrs of the resistance, army and population
especially the leader Hajj Imad Moghniyeh.
I also salute our Palestinian brethren who were our partners in the
struggle against Israel.”
“This second commemoration reaffirms the possibility of continuing
our victories. We must overcome the problems of the past,” Sayyed
Nasrallah concluded.
