Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah on Hezbollah Satellite TV 7/25/2006

 

May peace and the mercy and blessings of God be upon you.  After two
weeks of confrontation with the savage Zionist enemy's aggression
against Lebanon, and miraculous forbearance by this proud people and
the brave resistance, I would like to talk to you again because there
have been many development politically and in the field.

There are things that need comment and specific situations to know
about so as to continue with activities during the coming days.
First, politically we should know and understand very well the truth
about the war and the background of the enemy that is making war
against Lebanon.  I think things are much clearer now after two weeks.

There is a great deal of information now, public statements, facts and
proofs, which were made clear, whether by important people in charge
in the US Administration, by the Zionist enemy leaders, or those who
are close to their circle.

We also have a lot of conclusions and incidents that lead to a single
and clear conclusion that can explain the truth about the current war
to us.  If we know what war we are fighting and what war is being
imposed on us, we will know how to continue our task.

Brothers and sisters, after what was said by the US secretary of state
about a New Middle East, which is to say a new American-Israeli Middle
East, can anyone imagine that this enormous project was born in a
second, a day or two after the resitance capture two Israeli soldiers?
Of course not!

All the evidence indicates that they were already preparing for the
establishment of that New Middle East.  Much effort had been made for
at least a year.

According to the Americans and the Zionists, there are some barriers
in the way of establishing the New Middle East.  The New Middle East
means an area that is controlled by the US government.  It also means
an area where the US government is the only power that can manage its
affairs.

Israel is to be the first partner in the New Middle East.  The
Palestinian issue has to be resolved and the Palestinians must accept
the leavings offered them by Sharon and Olmert.

In the New Middle East there is no room for any resistance movements
in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria or Iran at the regime level.  They must
remove these barriers and get them out of the way of this historic US
project being prepared for this area.

The whole thing started in Palestine.  They needed to overcome the
resistance movements in Palestine.  Elections were held.  To their
surprise, the resistance movement, especially Hamas, was a great
success.  This put them in a very critical situation.

They thought Hamas was a terrorist group that could be easily
eliminated.  This shock made them change their plans.  They surrounded
the Palestinians, starved them, blocked aid to them and slammed the
door in their face.

They were forcing the development of a civil war in Palestine and in
the Gaza Strip. This was the danger facing the Palestinian people.
Then the operation capturing the Israeli soldier in Gaza took place.
It was called the Last Illusion.

In fact, this operation was important because it removed the danger of
a civil war among the Palestinians.  It took them back to the real
battle.  Even those who were willing to bear arms agains their
brothers in the resistance were no longer able to do so.

Direct and indirect efforts were made in Lebanon throughout the year.
The US was following developments in Lebanon very carefully and
accurately.  They were gambling, but their gamble failed.  They wanted
to make sure the political powers in Lebanon would agree to demolish
the Lebanese resistance.  To their surprise, there was great support
for the resistance and its local and internal allies.

They tried another option, because they had studied the situation in
the Lebanese army for a year.  I know that many military delegations
came to Lebanon, asked questions and were shocked to learn that the
Lebanese army could never carry out such a plot because it is a
national army and its leaders, batallions, officers, soldiers, forms,
beliefs and origins completely refused to be involved in such a thing.

It is the army that performed in an accurate and wise manner during
this difficult period of time in which Lebanon is suffering because of
its local situation.

In the beginning they felt that getting Hezbollah involved in
government, authority, positions, projects and other things could
cause it to abandon the resistance responsibilities, even though it is
the party that gave a lot of martyrs for the sake of the
resistance. Therefore all the evidence leads to the fact that there is
no way to get around the resistance.

They also waited for the results of the national dialogue, which they
followed very well.  They came to the conclusion that they could not
achieve that goal.  They were blocked locally.  I think the US knew
that there was no local means, whether political, police, military or
popular, that could be used to get around the resistance movement and
its presence in Lebanon.

At the regional level, they bet a lot so they could use our friends in
Syria and Iran to achieve their goal.  They learned that neither our
Syrian nor our Iranian friends could be used against the resistance in
Lebanon or Palestine.

Therefore, they concluded that according to their point of view there
is one place they can strike to overcome the resistance in Lebanon and
Palestine.  After that, they thought they could separate Syria and
Iran from the rest of the world by threatening them and so forth.

According to all these readings I have introduce very briefly, their
option was the Israeli war and the Zionist aggression against Lebanon.
What we know so far leads to the fact that all the training done by
the enemy and its forces, especially in the north and south of
occupied Palestine, seems to be preparation for the aggression against
Lebanon. Their original timing seems to have been for the end of
September or the beginning of October in the current year.

The plan also required that the Zionist enemy, with or without a
reason or a pretext, launch a powerful ground expedition to control
the south Litani River area, with strong international and universal
support.  The goal of that expedition was to control the area where
the Katyusha rockets were being launched.

At the same time, the Israeli army was supposed to strike the houses
and centers of those who are in charge of Hezbollah operations,
striking its infrastructure and completely disabling the resistance
movement and the country.

This in turn would lead the Lebanese street to resistance would lose
its ability to resume, dealing it a powerful blow from which it could
never recover.  This is what was being prepared.

Some people might wonder here why we captured those soldiers.  Even if
we had not captured them, this scenario was to have been played out in
September or October in any case.  I'm very sure about this.

When we did that, we always wondered if we were going to get that
strong reaction.  Let me explain that the resistance had a more
dangerous plan when it captured those two Israeli soldiers.  The worst
scenario was the invasion and assault against Lebanon and its people.
This is where we actually are now.

During our operation, the enemy was in a bad, humiliating situation.
Therefore, they started the war that they were planning to launch
against us in September or October.  This means that our enemy lost
the shock effect of its war against us.  The scenario I just mentioned
depended mostly on the the element of surprise.  We were supposed to
be sleeping or not paying attention on one of the days in September or
October.

Then in a single moment they would occupy Lebanon south of the Litani
River, strike our homes, businesses, centers and we would lose our
administration, communications and control.  We would be paralyzed.
Then they would be able to overcome us with fewer casualites.

The capture operation and the enemy's rush to attack us disrupted
their first scenario.  It also eliminated the element of surprise,
which was the most dangerous element of this operation in the enemy
scenario.

In addition, this enemy was forced to perform this operation before
the appointed time and before obtaining the necessary intelligence
information and before the complementary preparations for the
operation that could lead to its success.

This is war, which they called an open war.  We said we are going to
go as if we had no other option.  During this period, and more than at
any other time, dear people of Lebanon and people of the world who
follow us and worry about us, we are not certain of the background and
objectives of that war.

Therefore despite all the discussions that have taken place during the
past few days about whether the resistance miscalculated or whether it
gave the Israelis a pretext to start this war, the enemy was planning
to start this war in two months in any case.

According to our estimation from this angle, it might be a blessing
from God that we conducted the capture operation.  We were ready for
an assault, which we expected to be a very harsh reaction to the
capturing operation.

The confrontation began and is still underway at this moment.
Brothers, the project and the plan of the war meant to bring Lebanon
back under Israeli control and supervision, which means that it is
very much worse than the 1982 invasion and the treaty of May 17.  What
they want is to deprive Lebanon of its history, culture, obligations
and true identity to become an American-Zionist Lebanon run by America
and Israel through Lebanese frontmen who obey and execute without any
power or authority.

Yes, our destiny once again, with all honest citizens, is to confront
this ominous project and to frustrate the goals of this war, to fight
and go through the war over what is left of our land and our captives,
to go through the war of real independence and sovereignty.  This is
what we have assured in the past few days.

Brothers and sisters, today and after your great persistence, the
diplomatic and political movements have begun and that has given the
enemy the desired opportunity.  This will also give them another
chance, and I'm going to explain that shortly.

Delegations went before Condoleezza Rice, then she came.  All those
who came so far came under American-Zionist dictation.  They offered
no settlements or solutions for the ongoing crisis and struggle.



In any case I am not going to get into a discussion about prospects
and conditions because we should leave these discussions to special
meetings and mechanisms, especially because this case is being
followed by honest people upon whom we are depending.

However I would like to assure you and the world that we can never
accept any humiliating conditions on our country, our people, or our
resistance, nor can we accept anything that affects our national
interest, sovereignty or independence.  After all these sacrifices no
matter how long the confrontation takes, no matter how great our
sacrifices, our true and basic slogan is honor.

Homes were demolished and will be rebuilt God willing.  The
infrastructure was damaged and will be rebuilt again God willing, but
we will not allow our honor to be compromised.  We cannot accept any
humiliating conditions.  We are open to a political solution,
political discussion, we can deal with this matter responsibly and
flexibly, but there is a red line: Our national sovereignty, our
national independence,

After Ms. Rice came to Lebanon and left for occupied Palestine, she
gave the Israeli enemy another chance.  A week or ten days is before
us.  As the Israelis themselves say, we have a crucial period and we
need more persistence, resistance and self-control and we also need
more patience.

They are betting the outcome of the war depends on who screams first.
We will continue with our confrontation.  I want to announce that I am
moving to the operational side and with all of this time and all of
this relentlessness from the Israeli enemy, we are in a new phase of
the confrontation and the struggle which is imposed upon us by the
enemy.  We have no choice.  In the new phase will not strike just
within Haifa.  We will move to places beyond Haifa.  If things develop
we will choose the time and place beyond Haifa.  That is the first thing.

Second, in the operational field so far the resistance fighters have
accomplished many things and they have caused many casualities for the
Zionist enemy.  Its officers, soldiers, aircraft and tanks.  Today we
are fighting in the village of Bint al-Jbail, as we did in al-Marouna
al-Ra's.  We will fight in each place, at every time and in every
position.

Of course as I said some days ago we are not a traditional army.  This
means we do not form a classic defensive line. We use guerilla
tactics.  Everybody knows about guerilla tactics.  The important thing
in the ground fighting is inflicting casualites on the Israeli enemy.
We assure you that no matter how the ground invasion goes, no matter
what the Israeli enemy can accomplish the enemy cannot achieve his
objective which is to stop us from striking the settlements in
northern Palestine.

These strikes will continue no matter how this ground invasion and the
new occupation which the Zionist enemy is trying to conduct the
occupation of even an inch of our Lebanese territory will be a motive
for the continuation and elevation of our resistance.

The coming of the Zionist army to our land will make him, his
officers, his soldiers, and tanks more accessible to us. This will
give us a bigger and wider chance for direct confrontation.  We will
consume this enemy better if they are not hiding behind their borders
using only their powerful air force and destroying towns and villages,
killing children, women and civilians.

There in the ground confrontation we will have the upper hand.  The
criterion in the ground battle is the amount of casualties we inflict
on the enemy, not the amount of land we control or what land we lose
control of, because we will certainly recover any piece of land the
enemy occupies after we inflict casualties on him.  We are therefore
ready for the ground confrontation.

God willing we will continue.  We are betting and depending on
Almighty God and on these strong arms and hearts full of faith, minds
filled with knowledge, and the souls that love meeting Almighty God.

Everything, the problems and humiliations of this world, becomes easy
in their eyes so they face the enemy steadfastly in the field
confrontation.  As fighters and as people we must pay attention to
enemy psychological warfare.  Clearly, if any of our leaders and
fighters is killed, we will announce it and be proud of it.  If we
lose a lot of martyrs we will announce it proudly.  If we have
injuries or captives, we won't deny it.  This is our path.  Even when
we were fighting in Maroun al-Ra's we said we were fighting.
Therefore you have to listen to us and not to the psychological war
the Zionist enemy is waging.

The Israeli enemy has been saying for two days that they control the
city of Bint al-Jbail.  Unfortunately a lot of Lebanese and Arab media
help them and broadcast what they say. They do not control the city of
Bint al-Jubail.  The entire city of Bint al-Jubail is still in the
hands of the fighters as of this moment.  They fight, confront and
resist.  The Israeli enemy speaks about hundreds of Hezbollah martyrs.
Where are they?  A while ago they were talking about 20 captives.
Where are they?  Several days ago they spoke about two captives from
Maroun al-Ra's.  Then today they set them free because they are two
Lebanese who had nothing to do with the resistance or the current
fight in Maroun al-Ra's.

The Israeli enemy is therefore going to talk about occupying cities,
villages, killing and capturing large numbers, to affect the morale of
the fighters and the people.  I hope you believe me and will listen to
me.  When we have martyrs we will announce it. When we leave a city
after fighting as heroes we will announce that we have left this city.

We do not lie to our people but the enemy is lying to his people.  The
enemy is the one who does not state the facts to his people or to the
world, and that is proof of his weakness and abjectness.

The fact that we are being honest and clear with our people is
evidence of our power and will.  In any case when we choose this way
we know that we are going taking the way of thorns, martyrdom and
sacrifice which make victory, and we have nothing to hide.  We insist
on standing and resisting to keep our honor, sovereignty, freedom
and the identity of our country.

We need to be patient to resist and continue, and things will not
continue in this way.  God willing we will achieve victory in this war
as we have in others.  Our resistance will change conditions around
us.  With the international reality the enemy will not have a long
time, no matter what kind of cover the US government gives to it.

At the end of the road the blood of the women, children and civilians
and the blood of the martyrs and fighters, whether in the resistance
of in the national Lebanese army or in any position of sacrifice
today, this blood should achieve victory over the sword and this is
God's tradition.  And the mercy and blessings of God be upon you.