Speech of Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah delivered on the 13th August 2008

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.

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