US Sanctions on Hezbollah Not to Stop the Resistance: Nasrallah


US Sanctions on Hezbollah Not to Stop the Resistance: Nasrallah

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Hezbollah Secretary-General Seyed Hassan Nasrallah brushed off US sanctions on the resistance movement, saying they would not be effective and would fail to stop the resistance.

Nasrallah, speaking during a Friday televised address to mark National Liberation and Resistance day, said that the Lebanese government had a responsibility to all its citizens placed on US terror lists and that some of those affected were not affiliated and did not give money to the movement, The Daily Star reported.

“These are Lebanese citizens in the first place,” Nasrallah said. “As they’re Lebanese citizens, the government should defend their rights. They should reject the sanctions.”

Nasrallah said that despite concerns, the US actions would not delay the formation of a new government. Recent elections, including the first parliamentary elections for nine years, the re-election of Speaker Nabih Berri and the subsequent designation of caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri to form a new government, took place in a “good and positive” manner.

With negotiations for a new government to begin Monday, Nasrallah said that Hezbollah would not put forward any candidates for the key portfolios: the Defense, Interior, Finance and Foreign Ministries.

“When you defeat the unbeatable army (a moniker previously given to the Israeli army); ... when you advance a cultural change in the area, and stand in the way of the US project for the region; when you stand in the way of US-Israeli projects and contribute to foiling them ... it is natural that this enemy will threaten you,” Nasrallah said. “Part of this is the sanctions, the terrorism lists, the blockage, and so on. This is part of the battle.”

Nasrallah further said Hezbollah does not trade in currencies like the dollar or the euro. However, conceding that the sanctions would do a degree of harm, he drew a comparison to the sacrifices of the group’s martyrs, saying the US financial pressure “would not stop the resistance.”

On the anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon, Nasrallah said that Hezbollah’s fighters were “martyrs that gave their blood and their pure souls.”

“(They) left their work and their families and lived in valleys and in fear, and spared no effort to liberate this land,” Nasrallah said.

“…people like this cannot be defeated with sanctions, terrorism lists or the drying up of funding sources.”

“I said that the Syrian leadership and their allies would not let Damascus fall, whatever the sacrifice,” Nasrallah said. “Today, we also turn to Syria, its army, its people and its allies to welcome the liberation of Damascus in its entirety,” he said.

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