Nasrallah: We've Hit The Last Nail On “Greater Israel’s” Coffin

Beirut, May 26, IRNA – Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah emphasized here Friday, May 25th (liberation anniversary of southern Lebanon from Zionists’ occupation) marks hitting the last nail on what they used to call “greater Israel”. Nasrallah made the comment in an address in the southern Lebanese city of Bein Jubail on the anniversary of liberating the southern parts of Lebanon from the occupation of the usurper, racist-Zionist regime. “We appreciate the Syrian officials, particularly President Bashar al-Assad, and the head of Lebanon’s Al-Motaqbal Movement Mr. Sa’d al-Hariri, for the freedom of the kidnapped Lebanese prisoners.” Nasrallah added. "We thank God that the kidnapping operation ended with no negative aftermath, and might even lead to positive results,” he added. ** Bothering Syrians in Lebanon prohibited He added, “The Lebanese government established contacts from the first moments after these hostages were kidnapped. Nasrallah said, “There is no need for pouring into the streets and damaging private and public properties, which are both against our religious beliefs and against the laws of Lebanon.” Hezbollah secretary general said, “The Syrian citizens in Lebanon should not be bothered and this is our demand from the Lebanese people.” Referring to the incidence of getting some Lebanese pilgrims killed in Iraq, Nasrallah said, “We appreciate Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for allocating a special plane for transferring the deceased and the wounded victims of that incident and their bereaved family members to Lebanon.” Hezbollah secretary general said, “The pilgrimage caravans had better end their land trips in order to safeguard the people’s lives and to referring form the occurrence of such unfortunate events.” **Hostage taking will not make us change political stands Addressing the (dissident) Syrian hostage takers, Nasrallah said, “This move is totally condemned and no sound and logical mind would approve of it, since the move is both to your loss, and against your objectives, while it would have no effect on our political stands. Referring to the ongoing conditions in Syria, he said, “Our stand regarding the Syrian developments is fixed and clear: we favor holding dialogue to solve the crisis in that country, as we had earlier said.” Nasrallah said, “Hostage taking will not urge us to change political stands.” He meanwhile referred to the hostage taking from a Lebanese caravan of pilgrims in Syrian city of Aleppo, adding, “If the objective behind these hostage taking operations is imposing pressure by Lebanon against Damascus to free the kidnapped people, this is a very dangerous move which is neither acceptable by us, nor by Syrian officials, and it will not bear any fruit either.” Hezbollah secretary general said that the freedom of the kidnapped hostages was a very good experience for the Lebanese government, adding, “We said from the very beginning that the people had better return to their homes, because we felt responsible towards the matter and we appreciate the Turkish government for their cooperation in this respect.” He added, “What happened today reminds us of the moves of the Zionist regime in occupied Palestine; that regime had after violating the international border and entering the Lebanese soil kidnapped a number of Lebanese citizens near the borders with the occupied Palestine and the Lebanese government of the time, too, would make no move to defend the people, chanting the slogan that Lebanon’s power is in its weakness!” ** Imam Mousa Sadr, pioneer of resistance mentality in southern Lebanon Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said, “At that time Imam Mousa Sadr brought up the issue of establishing Lebanese resistance groups to defend the southern Lebanon.” He referred to the various phases in contemporary Lebanese history prior to the occupation of the Zionist regime, adding, “If both then and today the government would have performed its duties, we would have supported it and approved of it, but when the government does not heed its responsibilities, then the responsibility of safeguarding the people would be on the shoulders of the people themselves.” The Hezbollah Sec Gen referring to the various Israeli invasions against Lebanon, said, “Those invasions were launched in collaboration with the Arab and Islamic countries, save for Iran and Syria, and even in Lebanon, we have still not reached a national consensus regarding resistance and its weapons.” Referring to the 12th anniversary of liberation of the southern Lebanon, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said, “This day is a celebration day for the Lebanese government and the entire Lebanese groups; the groups which stood side by side with the resistance in order to embrace victory.” He added, “Everyone knows at the time of the Zionists’ invasion against Lebanon there was an American-Israeli plan for annexing Lebanon to Israel, which was of course dismantled by the resistance in the year 1982.” **The Israelis had come to stay Pointing out that the Israelis are greedy for devouring the Lebanese water and soul together, he said, “They had not come to Lebanon to leave and return our land to us.” The Hezbollah Secretary General said, “The Israelis believed their army would remain in south of Lebanon and hoped their construction of Zionist townships in this region would begin in near future, but the Lebanese people’s rush to join the resistance against the occupation of the Zionists made it clear for them that Lebanon is not a safe place for them to implement their plans.” Nasrallah said, “This land was returned to us prestigiously and needless of signing any wretched conditions, or peace agreements, and the enemy did not manage to gain any point in that devastative war.” He added, “The sedition that the Israelis were after sowing its seeds in south of Lebanon was dismantled by grace of God.” The secretary general of Hezbollah said, “Israel that had intended to turn the happiness of the Lebanese nation into gloomy days fled from the southern parts of Lebanon without even informing (their mercenary) South Army (of Antoine Lahad), because the Zionists wished that their mercenaries would keep on massacring, committing more crimes, and get involved in more tribal seditions as long as possible.” **We treated ethically even encountering the mercenaries He reiterated, “The people of the liberated areas acted very exaltedly, because their religion, their ethical values, and their nationality had urged them to do so, and they did not kill any of the mercenaries who had up to then been bothering the people on a daily basis.” Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said, “No one had asked those who fled to the occupied Palestine to do so and we believe the government should put those mercenaries to trial.” He added, “Regarding the combination of safeguarding the south of the country and the people against the Israeli invasion, the people of these regions might have the question whether the combination of army, people and resistance is reliable for safeguarding them?” The Hezbollah Sec Gen added, “Ever since May 25th, 2000, save for the days of the 33 Day War in the year 2006, Israel has not dared to invade Lebanon and this is the fruit of the army, the people, the resistance combination.” He reiterated, “Israel was invading us continually, while today it fears lest we would attack its positions and this fear has urged them to construct a separation wall near the southern Kafar Kala region.” ** Last nail on coffin of greater Israel Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah emphasized, “On May 25th, 2000, we hit the last nail on the coffin of what was formerly called the greater Israel.” The Hezbollah secretary general referring to the fear in the hearts of every Zionist from Hezbollah missiles, reiterated, “The Zionist regime which has not managed to make its ‘from the Niles to the Euphrates’ dream come true tried to at least exert its hegemony up to the Litany River in the south of Lebanon, but there are resistance groups that have promise the enemy to launch missiles towards the entire occupied territories.” **The Zionist regime tries to exert its hegemony Referring to the construction of a separation wall between Lebanon and the Zionist regime by that forged entity in the south of Lebanon, he said, “This wall will not safeguard their existence and their entirety, because their existence and entirety is set on the foundations of destruction, crimes and massacres.” Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah referring to the defeat of the Zionist regime in the year 2000 reiterated, “The enemy has confessed to this great achievement, because it was unbelievable for them that one day an Arab resistance group would urge them to flee, but Hezbollah proved that it is an Arab group, but of a different type.” **Our weapons are only for encountering Israeli threats Hezbollah secretary general pointed out that the weapons of the resistance movement are not for supporting a certain political tendency or a tribal faction, reiterating, “We call on the government to support everyone, because our weapons are merely for safeguarding Lebanon against Israel.” Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah referred to the new phenomenon of distributing weapons among the people in the course of the recent engagements in Lebanon, arguing, “Some people have compared these weapons with the weapons of resistance and argued that the resistance weapons are illegal, knowing themselves that this is a wrong and unacceptable comparison.” Nasrallah added, “Also arguing that these weapons (which are used in recent engagements in north of Lebanon) are only related to the residents of those regions, too, is not right, and we see no obstacle for taking advantage of those weapons in the framework of the strategic defense of Lebanon.” Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah referred once again to the army, the people, the resistance combination, arguing, “Relying on that combination we safeguard Lebanon against the threats of the Zionist regime, while the responsibility of defending the people inside Lebanon is up to the government alone.” Hezbollah Secretary General added, “Some people refer to security incidents in Zahiyah, or in Boca, arguing that Hezbollah is responsible for controlling and wrapping up these incidents, but we say that the government itself is responsible for ensuring security throughout Lebanon.” **Army is Lebanon’s backbone He then emphasized that various political tendencies must play their roles in line with safeguarding the unity and territorial integrity of the country, reiterating, “the most important organ and the main backbone of Lebanon is the Lebanese army, while returning to the former tribal, and other groupings would lead to public losses for Lebanon and the Lebanese nation.” He added, “An incident occurred in Akar (leading to getting killed of two Sunni clergies at an army check point), is an incident which calls for demanding a just investigation to identify the culprits and putting them to trial, but the army must be safeguarded for the sake of Lebanon and the people.” Hezbollah Secretary General Nasrallah pointed out that in incidents throughout Lebanon the government and the security forces must have a strong presence, adding, “It is not right to invade the offices and centers of various political tendencies, regardless of their orientations, and the government must safeguard them.” Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah reiterated, “Tribal and religious intrigues are very perilous, because this might create a tense and chaotic atmosphere beyond the control of everyone, as whose result everyone would suffer losses.” He also asked the public mass media to heed their responsibilities, particularly in confrontation and opposing tribal and religious factional intrigues. ** Shi’a folks play no role in keeping detained of the arrested Salafi people Hezbollah Sec Gen said, “from the first days after the arrest of a number of Salafi fundamentalists in Lebanon we demanded that they would soon be put to just trail and the position of the Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and the Supreme Shi’a Assembly, too, were the same, and therefore, it is not possible to accuse the Shi’a folks of being opposed to the freedom of these people.” On arrest of the Islamic and non-Islamic groups’ members in Lebanon, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said, “We demand just and fast trail of these people.” Referring to the process of accusing the Lebanese security forces in the course of the recent developments in that country, he said, “Is it possible to have a law-abiding government by tribal intrigues and accusing the security forces?” ** Unconditional talks with entire Lebanese groups The secretary general of Hezbollah referring to the Lebanese President Mitchell Sulaiman’s invitation for national dialogues among Lebanese groups, reiterated, “To safeguard Lebanon, we too are ready for beginning dialogues unconditionally, and invite the march 14th Group to sit at the national dialogue table also unconditionally.” Referring to the establishment of the new Zionist government, he added, “We prefer to assume that the establishment of this government has been due to internal factors, but meanwhile we should not ignore the possibility of launching another invasion against Lebanon by this newly established government.” Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah added, “Just as we defended the south in the past and dedicated martyrs, atop whom the commanders of the resistance movement. Today too, by the nobility of resistance and the firm presence of the people of the south we would defend this region of the country, because this region is the front line of the new Middle East.