On the evening of Monday, August 28, 2023, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah spoke to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the liberation of Al-Jarud (the liberation of eastern Lebanese lands on the Syrian-ISIS border), highlighting the strategy of equation between the Lebanese army, the people and the resistance force, and noting that Israeli threats (the issue of assassinations) increase the tenacity, determination, and strength of the resistance, which has already achieved great victories.
Lebanon (emphasis on assassinations):
Nasrallah stated in his address that there are forces in Lebanon “betting on the survival and victory of the armed groups on the lands of eastern Lebanon,” emphasizing that the resistance had made its decision and launched the fight with full force at the time.
The Lebanese government “did not authorize the Lebanese army to launch an attack on the militants in al-Jurod, due to American pressure on it,” Nasrallah stated, adding that the Americans “threatened the Lebanese army to stop aiding it if it launched this attack.”
Nasrallah lauded the equation of “the army, the people, and the resistance,” emphasizing that it is Lebanon’s existing national strategic equation, that it has won significant triumphs, and that the liberation of the lands is further confirmation of its accomplishment.
“Resistance in the occupied West Bank is pure Palestinian desire,” Nasrallah said, adding that “in light of the escalation of resistance in the West Bank and Israeli incompetence, the occupation prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, fled to present what is happening in the West Bank as an Iranian plan.”
Nasrallah then addressed senior Israeli officials’ warnings, emphasizing that “the Israeli enemy, throughout the conflict with the resistance, carried out large-scale assassinations,” and questioning the beneficial effects of these assassinations. He also emphasized the futility of Israeli threats, claiming that “neither the threat, nor its realization, will stop the resistance, but will increase its tenacity, determination, and strength.”
Nasrallah addressed Israel, emphasizing that “it must admit that it is in a historic, existential, and strategic dead end” and that there is no way out. Nasrallah repeated the resistance’s earlier attitude and commitment, stating that “no assassination on Lebanese soil, against Lebanese, Palestinians, Iranians, or others, can be tolerated.”
“We will not allow Lebanon to reopen to assassinations, and we will not accept any change in the existing equations,” Nasrallah declared, adding that “Israel must understand this.” He advocated for genuine solidarity with Palestinian detainees and political prisoners in Bahrain.
Lebanon (emphasis on UNIFIL and the presidential elections):
“UNIFIL forces in Lebanon will become spies for the Israeli occupation.” Nasrallah stated that the Lebanese government is attempting to “correct a mistake made last year that violates Lebanese sovereignty,” voiced support for the Lebanese government, and hoped that this will assist Lebanon’s friends in carrying out this correction. He asked if Lebanese officials would dare to harass the envoy
if he was American, because “now they are harassing the French.”
Regarding the Lebanese discussion, Nasrallah stated, “Because we are not weak, and because we are decision-makers, we are not afraid of dialogue and are ready for it, but we are not begging for dialogue from anyone.”
According to Nasrallah, anyone who “wants a president who will build a state that confronts Hezbollah rather than a state that solves people’s problems” obviously serves Israel’s stated purpose.
Nasrallah emphasized that he was informing the Lebanese about “the facts that some of them are working on,” and that some “believe that their dreams can only be achieved on the ruins of Lebanon and the skeletons of the Lebanese people.”
Hezbollah is in “dialog with the Free Patriotic Movement,” he claimed, and its officials were speaking “on behalf of Hezbollah, not on behalf of all its allies and friends.”
Nasrallah acknowledged that Hezbollah had been presented with the issue of administrative and financial decentralization and stated that if a draft was sent, “we are interested in discussing it with the parties.”
“The Lebanese are facing a bill with a large number of clauses that requires a majority to be approved by parliament,” he added, emphasizing that Lebanon’s presidential elections will begin in September.
Nasrallah addressed the disappearance of Imam al-Sadr and his two companions, saying, “We express solidarity and stand with our brothers in the Amal movement, who have suffered from this issue.”
He emphasized the continuation of Imam Musa al-Sadr’s path of resistance and defense of the Palestinian cause, as well as Lebanon’s belief in rejecting separation and division.
Syria (emphasis on the American presence east of the Euphrates River):
Nasrallah stressed that what is happening in Syria is an American project, “in which the US has used several countries in the region that supported it,” and that “the US and the US ambassador to Damascus have been the de facto leaders of the war in Syria since day one.”
Nasrallah stated that the armed infidels (ISIS) are “just stupid tools in the American project,” and that American forces returned to Iraq under the pretext of ISIS and entered to take eastern Euphrates under the same pretext.
Nasrallah urged Syrians to remember “the alternative they are preparing for” and highlighted that when the Americans learned that “the military project failed and Syria began to recover,” it was Caesar’s Act and the sanctions that put a brutal siege on the Syrian people. Instead of “blaming those who besieged and starved Syria,” Nasrallah stated, “blame is directed in the wrong place.”
The most important Syrian oil and gas fields, located east of the Euphrates River, “are looted by the Americans every day, and the Americans are preventing their return to the Syrian government,” Nasrallah said, adding that “Syria and its allies are simply capable of liberating the east of the Euphrates River,” which is “an area occupied by American forces.”
Nasrallah warned that fighting in the eastern Euphrates could escalate into a regional and international conflict, explaining that the campaign was not with the Syrian Democratic Forces (Kurds) and that “if the Americans want to fight themselves, then welcome,” emphasizing that “this is the real battle that will change all the equations.”
Nasrallah concluded his remarks by saying, “Today we are witnessing the presence of Palestine and Jerusalem in the fortieth march commemorating the death of Imam Hussein, in the gathering and visit of Imam Hussein, and in the paths of the march.”
