Tehran, YJC. Hassan Nasrallah has appeared in an interview with Al-Mayadeen, a report of which follows as told by Al-Manar.
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah revealed
Wednesday that the two explosive devices which were detonated against the
Zionist military force invading Lebanon in the Labbouneh southern town of
Lebanon were of "deliberate operation.”
"The two bombed IEDs were new. They
were not landmines of the Israeli army remains. The first has been exploded against
the Special Israeli force. When the second force intervened, the second IED has
been exploded,” Sayyed Nasrallah said.
"The second force has been
fell and hit directly,” he stressed, noting that "the Israeli
tried to undermine the incident, as well as some Lebanese. The story says that
two Israeli divisions entered the Lebanese territory of Labbouneh. This area is
in particular under the surveillance of the Resistance fighters and we had
previous information stating that the Israelis will pass through it. Therefore,
we planted IEDs and exploded them once they (the Zionist soldiers) came.”
During an exclusive interview with Al-Mayadeen TV Network
broadcast live on Al-Manar Channel,in which he unfoldedimportant
facts of July war 2006 the Zionist entity launched on Lebanon,Sayyed Nasrallah pointed out that "Labbouneh violation by
the Israeli occupation army was not the first. It is funny that after 65 years
of experience with the Israelis, someone in Lebanon requests from the United
Nations to deter Israeli.”
Hezbollah Secretary General declared
that "We started recently to feel operational Israeli violations on the
border, which might be targeting the Resistance and the people. The Labbouneh
operation will not be the last, and we will not tolerate any land violations of
our land. We will face them with the proper way at any time we know that the
Israeli has entered our land. We will not accept those land violations. We will
face the Israeli in any place he steps inside Lebanon. We won’t allow them to enter."
Fielding a question on "the silence
of the Lebanese political ranks regarding the Zionist breaching of borders and
UN resolution 1701, his eminence indicated that "it is not surprising, since
some forces in Lebanon do not consider Israel an enemy,” describing the
Lebanese President Michel Sleiman’s demand to file a complaint to the United
Nations as "weak position.”
"We agree that the International
community equalizes between the victim and the executioner and to condemn
Israel and us. It is our right not to keep silentafter any violation of
our land, and those Israeli violations are operational and have operational
targets which cannot be tolerated, he explained, stating that "the Israeli was
surprised by the amount of leaked information, as it was clear.”
Sayyed Nasrallah highlighted that
"they won’t "leave us alone” as long as the Resistance is holding on to the
central cause of Ummah and committed to protect Lebanon and defend its
sovereignty. The greatest problem of the US and the West, even of great part of
the Arab regimes – with us is that we are Resistance movement in particular.
The problem is not related to domestic affairs.”
He also revealed that "they were
always offering to keep us armed in exchange for presenting a commitment – even
if implicitly – to stay out of the Palestinian cause and the confrontation with
the Israeli ambitions. The mediators were the US, the UK, France and others.”
Sayyed Nasrallah made it clear that
the former vice-President of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, presented a great
offer to us through an American man of Lebanese descent which provides for
recognizing us internationally, keeping weapons in our possession and delisting
Hezbollah from the list of terror, under the condition that we give a verbal
commitment in a closed room. We rejected that. We can’t dive anyone such a
commitment.”
"What is the value of those weapons
if they weren’t for defending a cause and a country?” he asked.
"When we chose this path, we
agreed upon it unanimously and offered the elite of our martyrs. Therefore,
this matter is non-negotiable. The real problem they consider is that we are
Resistance and we determined to remain Resistance. It is a matter of faith and
principle,” Sayyed Nasrallah went on to say.
July War Facts: Revealed for the First Time
Moreover, the Lebanese head of
Resistance recalled that "After May 25, 2000, people celebrated the liberation
achievement. And since the second day (i.e. May 26, 2000), we believed that we
should get prepared for a war Israeli might launch against Lebanon,” noting
that the Zionists agree that the Lebanese Resistance inflicted them a historic
and strategic defeat in 2000, and that the Zionists suffer a historic
retaliation towards Resistance in Lebanon.
Regarding the kidnapping operation
on July 12, 2006, later dubbed "The Truthful Pledge”, Sayyed Nasrallah stated
that "Upon kidnapping the two Israeli soldiers, we were ready for any kind of
war. We were waiting for it and believing it had been delayed. The Resistance
was neither confused nor worried, but had clear strategy battle, because it had
been prepared deliberately.”
"During the 2006 July war, our main
objective was to inflict the enemy the most possible amount of casualties. In
some fields, we left this evaluation for brothers, who decided to steadfast
till the last drop of their blood in Maroun al-Ras. However, In Aita Ash-Sha’b,
there were a large number of brothers with whom we had lost contact and thought
they had been martyred. When we knew they were still alive, Hajj Imad Moughnieh
talked to me and I told him "not to oblige them to stay in place to fight. But
the brothers made up their minds to survive there till the last minute,” he
narrated.
"While in Bent Jbeil, the decision
was to remain and fight till the end, and to prevent the Israeli from entering
the town,” his eminence went on to say, reiterating that Hezbollah was
preparing itself for several-month long war at least.
Moreover, Sayyed Nasrallah said that
the rockets launched by Resistance the July war were of a little number
regarding what we were possessing. From a field capability point of view, we
were able to fire large number of rockets, but we were considering a long war
which we didn’t want to end just because our stock might become out of
rockets,” adding that effective communication between the central operation
room and the subordinate operation rooms in towns and regions was one of the
elements of power.
His eminence elaborated that during
the war "a number of spy agents had been arrested and handed over to the
Lebanese security agencies,” noting that one points of the Israeli failure in
July war related to the information weakness, i.e. when the Zionists carried
out a military landing at Dar al-Hikma hospital in Baalbeck.
"I assure you that the two Israeli
hostages hadn’t been taken to Baalbeck, thus the Israeli givens were wrong,” he
told the interviewer, Ghassan Bin Jeddo.
Sayyed Nasrallah expressed beliefs
that Beirut had been safeguarded through Resistance and not by the political
decision:
"The Israelidoes not care
about any political pressure. Thus we putthe "Dahiyeh for Tel Aviv”
equation. We had the ability then to bomb Tel Aviv. If the Israeli had continued
the war in the sameway, we would have destroyed hundreds of tanks.”
Syria Offered Unlimited Weapons Stockpile for Hezbollah
Turning to Hezbollah arsenal during
2006 war, Sayyed Nasrallah stressed: "We were assured that any Israeli tank,
which would be facing the Kornet missiles, would be destroyed. Striking the
Israeli warship was one of the surprises which we prepared for the Israelis.
Hitting it during July war was a very complicated process.”
"It was possible then that I
finished my telephone message before launching the rocket at the warship,” he
added.
Answering a question on the
destroyed building in Dahiyeh during the war, his eminence said that many of
those were not rooming Hezbollah centers or leaders, but the random destruction
might hurt us. The logic says that we, as Hezbollah leaders, not to gather in
one place.”
The Secretary General made it clear
that Hezbollah had received weapons directly from Syria before and during the
July war, pointing out that "a great part of the Resistance readiness in
Lebanon was depending on the arms coming from Syria.”
"Many of the weapons we used were
Syrian-made. Since the beginning of July war, the Syrian army warehouse was
open for the Lebanese Resistance.”
"We received our Kornet from Syria.
We took more weapons for spare assuming that the war will drag on,” he added.
Sayyed Nasrallah also revealed that
President Bashar al-Assad had expressed his readiness to get involved in the
war against the Zionist entity.
"He (President Assad) was believing
that the attack is regional and international against the Resistance, along
with an internal conspiracy, and that had the Resistance been eliminated, the
battle will drag to Syria,” the Sayyed said, explaining that the Zionist units
were supposed to continue their path from Hassbaya towards al-Masna’ and
Damascus, where the Syrian leadership was considering the deployment of a
Syrian force to Hassbaya to fight the Zionist units.
"I told Assad then that our position
is excellent and we are heading towards the victory, and that the Israelis will
fail in achieving their goals. I’m not worried and I don’t think that Damascus
is in danger. Therefore, I call for patience. We don’t want a regional war to
be erupted in our region and we are able to win in this battle,” his eminence
said.
"We didn’t receive weapons from Iran
during the July war because we didn’t need them,” he declared.
Post July War Negotiations
Turning on to the negotiations that
took place after the July war, Sayyed Nasrallah said:
"I wouldn’t authorize Fuad al-Siniora because he wasn’t trustworthy in this
issue, and the battle of political negotiation took place against Siniora and
his political bloc before taking place against the American and the European
actors. If we had given them our necks, they wouldhave beheaded us.”
Fielding a question on disarming the
Resistance, his eminence stated that the main focus was on Resistance arms and
that the main concern of March 14 bloc is to get rid of those weapons,
underlying that "March 14 stance was clear during the July war, but when we
entered the government, the Prime Minister and his allies adopted the goals of
others that were prevailing during the war.
"During the July war, this bloc had
called us and demanded many conditions including the disarmament the approval
on a multinational force to be deployed along the borders with Palestine and
Syria, in addition to handing the two hostages over. But we rejected that,”
Sayyed Nasrallah further elaborated.
"We didn’t feel during the war that
we have a Premier or another political party that has even a humanitarian
sympathy towards us,” he went on to say, adding that: "Siniora was the one who
postponed the solution at the last days of the war. The government should file
its decision of approval on 1701, but this had been delayed for two or three
days.”
"There were Arab countries involved
in the July war, and March 14 bloc was employing it to eliminate the
Resistance. For this reason it kept on with this project, and still keeping on
with it. I we had a loyal government, we would ended the war under Lebanon’s
conditions, but the political battle was from the inside,” Sayyed Nasrallah
continued.
As for Hezbollah main ally, the Free
Patriotic movement, the Secretary General said that he wasn’t surprised by the
stance of its leader, MP Gen. Michel Aoun, because both were tackling the same
issues prior to July war.
"Gen. Aoun stance was historic. He
had made up his choices alone,” the Sayyed said.
No Government to Be Formed without Hezbollah
Touching to the new Lebanese
cabinet, Sayyed Nasrallah unfolded that when PM-designate Tammam Salam was
appointed to form the government, he set conditions or conditions were set
against him.
"He (Salam) said: I don’t want
partisans, parliamentarian candidates or provocative figures, and that he wants
rotation in portfolios. This means that doesn’t want to form a cabinet. All
what we have said is that we want a national unity government in which all
parliamentary blocs are represented according to its masses,” Sayyed Nasrallah
made clear.
He also gave notice that the
Americans and the Saudis don’t want Hezbollah to join the government, and don’t
want the bloc – which we are part of – to enjoy a real partnership in the
government.
He also gave notice that the
Americans and the Saudis don’t want Hezbollah to join the government, and don’t
want the bloc – which we are part of – to enjoy a real partnership in the
government.
Talks on Neutral Government Hypocrisy
Nevertheless, Sayyed Nasrallah
lashed out at talks on forming a neutral government, asking: "Where the
neutrals in Lebanon are?”
"There is none,” he replied, adding
that "a technocrat and neutral candidate does not exist in Lebanon. Talking
about a government of neutrals is hypocrisy. The country’s situation requires a
real national unity government. Hence we are still supporting Salam as a Prime
Minister.”
Commenting on the Lebanese President
Michel Sleiman quotes stating that a one-party cabinet was formed previously
without any problems, his eminence said that this view is mistaken.
"When care taker Prime Minister was
designated to form the cabinet, the majority who named him approved on the
participation of the other party. Mikati then took his time to negotiate,” he
explained.
"Theywill besinning against
this country if they form a fait accompli government, for they will be
cancelling the half of the state,” Sayyed Nasrallah said, noting that "Our
allies will not participate without us, and we will not do so without them.”
Answering a question whether he
expects that Sleiman will ink a fait accompli cabinet, his eminence expressed
beliefs that the former might do it, particularly after his latest speeches.
As for accusing Hezbollah of
launching the rocket attack on Al-Yarzeh in retaliation against Sleiman’s
position, the Sayyed described it as "ridiculous,” indicating that Saudi Arabia
practices hostility against Hezbollah in everything.
In the meantime, Hezbollah Secretary
General stressed that "Hezbollah hasn’t kidnapped the two Turkish pilots, and
had no idea about the operation.
"Hezbollah does not accept it,” he
said.
His eminence also underlined that
"Hezbollah has nothing to do with releasing prisoners from Egypt jails.
"Today, we are very sorry for what
is happening in Egypt and are concerned about it. We always hope that things
will get resolved through dialogue and understanding,” Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah
said.
Secretary General of Hezbollah
didn’t forget to praise the people of Resistance for being one of its victory
factors.
"If it weren't for their sacrifices,
the resistance wouldn't keep on.”
At the end of the interview, His
eminence reminded the foe, and the friend as well, that time of defeats has
gone despite all the ongoing events in the region.
"This period will be crossed
safely,” he said.
"Despite everything, I
confirm that the Resistance is stronger than ever, and stronger than it was
during the 33-day war,” leader of the Lebanese Resistance of
Hezbollah, Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, concluded.