Nasrallah: Lebanon Facing Existential Threat


TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Hezbollah Secretary General Seyed Hasan Nasrallah stated that Lebanon is facing an existential threat by ISIL and the countries backing it, yet stressed that this threat can be confronted and defeated with deed.

In a televised speech on the anniversary of the July 2006 war, Seyed Nasrallah explained that "the 2006 war was not a small battle or a passing incident, but it was a serious war that had political, moral, and historic goals that go beyond Lebanon and Palestinian to reach the entire region or even a global equation," recalling US Secretary of State back then Condoleezza Rice's famous statement about "the birth of the new Middle East".

Seyed Hasan Nasrallah pointed out that the goal was to continue until overthrowing the regime in Syria because of its support to the resistance, and replacing it with a regime friendly to the United States and "Israel".

He added that "the Americans wanted the head of the resistance in Lebanon and the head of the resistance in Palestine, but the field developments forced the Israeli to scream in July war..."

"Their goal was America's full control over all the sources of oil and gas in the region and the end of the Palestinian cause by imposing a settlement on the Arabs and Palestinians which would satisfy "Israel"... this goal was frustrated by the resistance in Lebanon and the legendary firmness and victory in the July war."

However, Seyed Nasrallah clarified that the US goals in the region had different methods of approach, adding that "this war failed, but we are in front of other threats that we are capable of confronting and frustrating with deed."

He underlined that "the new path is more dangerous than the old one because it is not based on toppling regimes and replacing them with new ones, it is rather a path of destruction of the region, armies, people, and entities. An evidence on that is what is happening today, and the attempt to draw a new map for the region which is based on remains of people and countries and fearful hearts."

Hezbollah Secretary general pointed out that this path seeks to turn the enemy into a savior in our eyes, stressing that "we must be aware that an existential and serious threat is facing us and who ever denies that is detached from reality," Al-Manar reported.

"This path can be defeated based on experience and the regional developments in the past tough decades, that is Israel and the Zionist project... At the beginning of the 20th century, when the Zionists started going to Palestine, they were a small minority, so no one believed claims that they wanted to establish a state there, so they were not aware of this threat."

"Jewish Families came and spread settlements with security and political tasks. Some people knew what was happening, but the majority was not aware of that, even in 1948 they did not recognize the danger. In 1967 some Arabs were even giving excuses to Israel and claiming that what it did was a pre-emptive war because it had information that a decisive war against it was being prepared by some Arabs."

Seyed Nasrallah reiterated that "this result was due to the unawareness of the size of danger... the right thing that should've been done back then was mobilizing all the Arab armies against Israel, this woul've been the only solution."

"ISIL is an organization that has become a state occupying wide geographic areas in Syria and Iraq, and it is even larger than some countries in the region, as it also has large amounts of weapons and foreign fighters, and it sells oil the countries under the sight of the UN... This organization commits massacres against its own people who disagree with it as well as its opponents," he underscored.

Hezbollah chief also pointed out that ISIL's enemies are also the Sunnis, and everyone who disagrees with it, adding that "they are waging a psychological war as they kill and slaughter under the camera then broadcast it on Youtube and TV," and reassured that "this method does not have anything to do with Islam or prophet Mohammad or the Holy Koran."

Seyed Nasrallah stressed that "Anyone who denies the existence of such a reality is actually living in another world and is not even fit to hold the responsibility of his own family," indicating that "regional countries have sponsored this organization and are still aiding and supporting it."