Speech of Hassan Nasrallah Secretary General of the Lebanese Organization Hezbollah on 3rd August 2006 to the television station “Al-Manar”
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious Most Merciful: “Men said to them: “A great army is gathering against you”: And frightened them: But it (only) increased their Faith: They said: “For us God sufficeth, and He is the best disposer of affairs.” Peace be upon all of you…
Once again, I address you today as we are entering the fourth week of the open war which “
As I speak, your brethren and children of the resistance combatants are enduring heroic battles along the frontline in south
These battles on the ground are taking place at present. They began since the first day of war and aggression. Since the first day, there have been confrontations on the ground. But what is occurring at present is that these battles have become more comprehensive, wider, and more violent. We all remember the confrontations that took place in Maroun El-Rass, Aytaroun, and Ayta Shaab at the early days as well as the historic and heroic battles that took place at the triangle of men in Bint Jbail, Maroun El-Rass and Aytaroun.
Over the past two or three days, this operational confrontation on the field took different forms with the participation of a number of brigades and tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers as well as hundreds of Israeli tanks and vehicles. However, on the opposite side, the freedom fighters stand up to them with courage, valor, and strength, intercepting this advancement. The fact that a few days have past, one can still see that the fighting is still taking place at the frontlines and in the front villages and outposts.
The Zionists as well have been surprised by this confrontation on the land since the start. But now, they are receiving confirmation on their first conclusions which they concluded from the battles of Maroun El-Rass, Aytaroun, Ayta Shaab, Bint Jbail or any other battle that is giving them confirmation through the events of these days. The two most important issues on the level of the field are protruding as follows:
The first issue relates to the human element, the way which the Israelis used when they came and infiltrated or surrounded a certain town, leaving a back road for the fighters to escape and turn tail. But in all the battles which they endured until now, the fighters have been maintaining their positions, fighting to the last breath and last bullet despite all the harsh and difficult conditions which they have encountered. Therefore, the Israeli has been surprised by the present confrontations, by the human element of the resistance. The experience has proven until now and will prove in the future the same issue; that they are men who have a certain level of faith, will, courage, steadfastness and willingness to sacrifice lives. This is the issue about which I have spoken and said that these entrenched feet do not tremble and will not vanish even if the mountains had to vanish. The Israelis are experiencing this issue in every post and in each battle.
Speaking further on the human element, by asking all the military experts they will say that what is occurring is like a miracle; that complete brigades with their tanks and vehicles and under the heavy cover of the air force are attacking groups of the resistance in this or that village, in this or that post. Still, those men maintain their positions, fighting, keeping steadfastness and falling as martyrs. They even find the initiative by attacking and inflicting materialistic and human losses upon the enemy. This is a miracle when measured by the military and materialistic measurement. However, when measured by the men of God, this becomes a natural issue because this is the meaning of faith, will and honesty.
The second element is the capacity that was available at the resistance, this was also surprising. The enemy was shocked by the ability, quality and quantity that destroyed its tanks and military machines, which are the most advanced, important and most powerful tanks and military machines in the world. Still, the freedom fighters or mujahideen have been intercepting and destroying these tanks. The entire Israeli military tactic depends mainly on the deep penetrations using tanks and armored vehicles. But when the tanks cannot move, the movements of the enemy officers and soldiers become slow on the ground. This is the situation.
Today, when they advance or penetrate some locations, they start seeking for places where there is no resistance in order to keep advancing. But sooner than ever, the resistance takes the initiative in the places of their advancement, haunting, killing and expelling them. These abilities are presently available pertaining to quality and quantity. In other words, this is the antiarmor capacity at the resistance coupled with the numbers about which you heard or seen through the TV screens and special agencies. Until now, we did not display any images because at the frontlines the issues can be difficult. The number of the tanks and machines that have been destroyed until now is very large. I confirm that the Merkava tank or the Israeli military vehicles have been also intercepted, deactivated and frustrated because of the human element that possesses a high level of steadfastness and military abilities which have been abundant on this field, thanks to God. Those two elements have been clearly surprising for the enemy.
Regarding the issue of the ground confrontation, I would like to stress on the following points:
First, pertaining to the battlefield, the ballistic issue as well as the remaining issues about which I will talk, the enemy, has been employing a policy of clear, abundant and open lies. This is the nature of the enemy and it can be part of its psychological war. Anyhow, some employ this policy and lie in the psychological or non-psychological wars. For example, in the battle of Maroun El-Rass, the fighting took place for days. But the enemy said that it took control of Maroun El-Rass since the very beginning. Also in the battle of Bint Jbail, the enemy said it controlled the city of
The second point relates to the prior one. First, the enemy is trying to present a victory, which is different from the psychological war. It is trying to say that I achieved the so-and-so achievement. I have listened to the Israeli media means saying that after violent battles the Abbad outpost of Hizbullah has been placed under control. There is no such outpost with the name of Abbad which belongs to Hizbullah. There is a point at the international border opposite to the Abbad outpost; it is an observation point that has been evacuated since the very first day, where there has been no fighting. Still, they say that they controlled the outpost of Hizbullah after violet battles. I do not know what violent battles they are talking about and with whom they fought. Did they fight each other? Anyhow, on the second point, we are facing land battles and I said a clear policy since the first day. We do not have a policy of clinging on to the geography. Therefore, we have no intention for our fighters and mujahideen to be killed in defense of this point, this hill or that village. Our way of fight is not geographic. As I said, we are not a regular army and we do not use the way of the regular army. We rather use the way of the guerillas. Therefore, it would be useful for us to allow them advance into the entrances of the villages because this will give us a chance of a direct engagement in order to inflict human and materialistic losses upon them. This is our aim on the ground. Our aim is to inflict the largest possible number of human and materialistic losses upon the enemy. This issue is being achieved until now, thanks to God, in a great level. After this, when the enemy says it entered this hill or that village, this will neither change our strategy of combat nor our tactics or the morale of our fighters. On the contrary, when the enemy says that it entered this village or that hill after 23 days of fighting and heavy bombardment and ground battles while employing several brigades of the army, elite and reserves, what kind of achievement can this be?
This in fact is an achievement of the resistance, knowing that this village and that outpost have lasted until today while we know that the way of the Israelis is in using their tanks and brigades to invade and enter tens of kilometers within a few hours, but still, they are only advancing a few meters within days into south Lebanon. This is on the level of the battlefields at first.
Second, with respect to the sea, this is also part of the policy of hiding the losses about which I talked earlier. First, I would like to stress on the statement that was issued by the Islamic Resistance, that the resistance missiles targeted an Israeli warship type Saer 4.5 opposite to the coast of
Second, regarding the missiles bombardment issue, despite of what the Zionist enemy said until now on this field, the missile shelling of the settlements in north Palestine reaching after Haifa will continue; rather, it will continue with a higher rhythm pertaining to quality and quantity. Yesterday, the Islamic Resistance fired more than 300 rockets into the northern settlements and shelled the settlement of Beit Shan or Beesan and the city of
At this point, I wish to point to the stupidity, arrogance and ignorance of the leadership of this enemy. Look to the mistake it has committed. This of course is evidence to us. Olmert read a speech of victory and announced that “
This is the correct reading of the 48-hour stoppage of missiles launch. But how did the enemy read it? Therefore, as soon as the truce (suspending air strikes on
This is the truth regarding the ballistic issue. Therefore, we can find that the Israelis were frustrated; and I can say that what happened was like a scandal for Olmert, Peres, the minister of war and the staff commander. The Israeli media means and senior Israeli political and military analysts began talking about this issue. We heard Olmert's retraction speech in which he said to the people, we did not promise you that we will stop the rockets, we did not promise you with this or that issue. He did promise them, his promise has been videoed. Anyhow, this Israeli frustration and this Israeli scandal are part of the aspects of the confrontation that forced the enemy staff commander yesterday to launch more threat to the Lebanese, and he said that he was studying the possibility of striking the Lebanese depth including the city of
At this point, I would like to comment on this intimidation. First of all, the Lebanese depth, irrespective of
First, the Lebanese depth except
Second, regarding the city of
Third, at this point, I wish to confirm to the enemy leaders and nation, this nation is living on false hopes and lies. Your entire air strikes and land invasions could not stop our rockets; even if you took several kilometers from the border, even if you occupied the land to the south of Litany or the north of Litany, even if you reach
Fourth, regarding the rockets and the settlements, I would like to confirm that our shelling of the settlements, in the north or beyond
After this field narration, yes, I must admit that this enemy, within the recent period that was given to it by Condoleezza Rice, the period of the past week, managed to accomplish two great and significant military achievements, which I must recognize. The first is its perpetration of the massacre of Qana, killing women and children inside a safe shelter, after which it arrogantly justified its crime by saying that the resistance was firing from that house or from the vicinity of that house. Later, it denied but started to say again today that the information which it received confirmed that there were fighters from Hizbullah inside that house. It fell as a victim of this false information, this failed intelligence. I do not believe that there has been a wrong tip since the start. I believe that the Zionists intended to kill women and children in Qana because they know that we are human beings who are rich with sympathy.
It is true that we have a strong and steady volition, yet at the same time, we are full of sympathy, affection and love. We are sympathetic towards our people, women and children. They [enemy] want to pressurize us exploiting this point. I said this issue in the last speech. Suppose we accept their story of the wrong information, still, the question is: Is the killing of more than 800 civilians until now, most of whom are women and children, derives from false information? Alternatively, is this the morality of the Israeli army and the values of this barbaric and monstrous Israeli army? This is their first achievement that was accomplished within the period that was given by Condoleezza Rice. Now of course they are working on making people forget the Qana Massacre and that it must be absorbed locally, internationally, humanely, informatively and politically. We cannot allow this issue to happen. This is the responsibility of the media means, politicians, elite, intellectuals and all people. I am saying this at the time in which I can confirm that Qana is no longer alone and strange in the massacre, other villages share it this calamity such as Sreefa, and other numerous villages throughout
The second important achievement was the night commando that raided the city of
The first airdrop targeted a hospital, wow, a great achievement. An Israeli commando with tens of warplanes and helicopters dropped soldiers and officers in order to attack a hospital at the peripheries of Baalbeck, not to attack a military outpost. They entered the hospital in order to obtain important information that is hidden there as they claim. Still, they entered the hospital while firing bullets and throwing grenades inside its rooms. This in fact was a military failure and intelligence failure. This operation lasted several hours; the battle was confined to the vicinity of the hospital, where the fighters or mujahideen who are usually existent in that area took the initiative to confront the commando. This was intelligence failure. A great airdrop targets a location where it was revealed later that there were no leaders; not even the hospital manager was present; and there were no injured soldiers of the resistance. Imagine this: a great commando that seeks to cease wounded fighters of the resistance cannot face the young men of the resistance in Bint Jbail, Ayta Shaab, Taibe, etc… They dropped the commando to capture injured soldiers of the resistance, yet the surprise was that the hospital was empty. There was only a medical cadre of five people working in the ER. This enemy behaves with a mentality that does not regard sanctities or moral values. Hence, this hospital could have been subjected to bombardment or any other threat.
The second airdrop targeted one of the neighborhoods of a mountainous area in Baalbeck. There, the air force, prior to parachuting, destroyed a number of the houses that surrounded the targeted residence. Then, an officer and his soldiers were dropped to enter a civilian house, where a group of families, men, women and children, gathered. They kidnapped a number of men. The story was that the names were identical. I know, and we the Lebanese know that we have a problem regarding this issue. Sometimes in the airport or at the border, a man is detained because his name is identical to the name of other wanted man. It might take time to investigate the name of the father, mother, and date of birth in order to confirm the identity of the wanted person.
This was a great commando operation that took place in that neighborhood in Baalbeck, targeting an old man who is dear to his family and dedicated. His only guilt was that his name is Hassan Nasrallah. This is the intelligence of the enemy. This is its great Mossad and security. This is its great army, hence kidnapped those civilians. At this point, I would like to say that these are hostages. Those five civilians, snatched from Baalbeck, must be regarded as hostages, not as prisoners of war. The whole world that condemns the kidnapping of hostages must condemn them [enemy] and must demand their unconditional release before any exchange. This was a kidnap operation, the kidnapping of hostages, not capturing. Anyhow, in the end of these great achievements, which took place during the US, Bushist and Riceist, period, so to speak, the enemy Chief of Staff stood up to say: all that we wanted to do in Baalbeck was to prove to Hizbullah that we can reach anywhere. What is this great achievement? Did it deserve all these efforts which they exerted on this field?
Anyhow, your true image has been revealed to us through the confrontations on the battlefield. I say to the Zionists, I hope they can still hear me under the recent utter control of the media means: you are the victims, likewise the Lebanese and Palestinians, of a complex that exists at your Prime Minister Olmert. What is this complex? Everyone pays the cost of this complex. Olmert wants to prove that he is a great leader, and that he is like Sharon, Rabin, and the historic leaders that ruled this usurping entity. In this domain, I can say that he succeeded in one issue and failed in another. He succeeded in being like Sharon, Rabin, Begin, and those resembling them, when he perpetrated the massacres and the daily killing of women and children as well as destroying the houses in Palestine and Lebanon. Yes, I acknowledge this issue for him in this field; he is no lesser than them regarding this field.
On the other hand, regarding the field of the political command, military conception, administration, and performance, until now, he [Olmert] has proven that he is the most failure, hopeless and stupid Prime Minister ever to rule the entity of the Zionist enemy. I also say to them: let each Israeli ask himself a question at present about the performance of his political and military command, and question this entire war which they conducted after the capturing of the two Israeli soldiers. Did it lead to the release of the two Israeli soldiers? Will it bring back the two Israeli soldiers? Never… Instead, he could have negotiated like
The current war proved that the Israeli army is a gigantic, blind, ignorant, stupid and incapable military machine. It can only kill old men, women and children as well as destroy the infrastructure. And I say to the Israelis: ask Olmert, where are his highly aimed great promises which he declared since the first day of the war, the beginning of the aggression? Yesterday, we heard him washing his hands of all these high aimed great slogans of this fruitless war. I confirm to everyone, to the enemy and the friend as well as the entire world, you cannot eliminate Hizbullah as you cannot eliminate the movements of the honest resistance in
I reach the last part which pertains to the political part. I say this: I would like to confirm to our Lebanese people and the peoples of our nation as well as the world. I want to be very clear. The killings, massacres, destruction, atrocities and barbarism that have taken place since the first day of the war and continue to be, Bush and his
I repeat to all Lebanese, today we are at war; but the war ends and it will end. I do not want you to ever forget that this US administration, the friend, ally and love of Lebanon, whose heart is aching for the nation of Lebanon and wants it to live in an oasis of security and peace, and wants it to be a democratic example in this region, this US administration may become the gamble of some people in the future, knowing that it has been the gamble of some people in the past. I hope that we will never forget this issue for our coming days, months and years. At this point, I want to confirm, regardless of the outcomes of this war,
Regarding the second issue of this political part, I want to say to he who loves
However, I say to those who love
At this point, I wish to say to the rulers in the Arab and Moslem countries of the new Middle East, there will be no place for your thrones if you abandon your moral and national responsibility in fear of your thrones. But in the new
In the end, my salutation and the salutation of all of my dear ones, the brethren of the Islamic Resistance, to the families of the pure martyrs who are the eye, candle, heart and slogan of sacrifice, generosity and highest defense, to the wounded who are sustaining the pain of the injuries and maintaining their steadfastness in their land, to those who migrated from their lands and homes to other lands and homes, to those who are embracing the immigrants and the resistance, informatively, publicly, socially, financially and spiritually, to all of those who support us in this world and express this attitude of mine through the media, politics, demonstrations, sit-ins, and all forms of employed methods, our salutation to all of them.
The last salutation goes to the freedom fighters, the courageous heroes who are proving the face of
I conclude by sending my greetings to the mujahideen. And I remind the Zionists that they have only one choice, stop the aggression and return to the political approach. No one will save you from you trouble. If you are betting on the
Peace be upon all of you…
END OF THE SPEECH OF HASSAN NASRALLAH
Speech of Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of
Ladies and gentlemen, leaders of the world.
I, the Prime Minister of Israel, I am speaking to you from
There are no words of comfort that can mitigate the enormity of this tragedy. Still, I am looking you straight in the eye and telling you that the State of Israel will continue its military campaign in
The Israel Defense Forces will continue to attack targets from which missiles and Katyusha rockets are fired at hospitals, old age homes and kindergartens in
We will not hesitate, we will not apologize and we will not back off. If they continue to launch missiles into
Ladies and gentlemen, it's time you understood: The Jewish state will no longer be trampled upon. We will no longer allow anyone to exploit population centers in order to bomb our citizens. No one will be able to hide anymore behind women and children in order to kill our women and children. This anarchy is over. You can condemn us, you can boycott us, you can stop visiting us and, if necessary, we will stop visiting you.
Today I am serving as the voice of six million bombarded Israeli citizens who serve as the voice of six million murdered Jews who were melted down to dust and ashes by savages in Europe. In both cases, those responsible for these evil acts were, and are, barbarians devoid of all humanity, who set themselves one simple goal: to wipe the Jewish race off the face of the earth, as Adolph Hitler said, or to wipe the State of Israel off the map, as Mahmoud Ahmedinjad proclaims. And you – just as you did not take those words seriously then, you are ignoring them again now. And that, ladies and gentlemen, leaders of the world, will not happen again. Never again will we wait for bombs that never came to hit the gas chambers. Never again will we wait for salvation that never arrives.
Now we have our own air force. The Jewish people are now capable of standing up to those who seek their destruction – those people will no longer be able to hide behind women and children. They will no longer be able to evade their responsibility. Every place from which a Katyusha is fired into the State of Israel will be a legitimate target for us to attack. This must be stated clearly and publicly, once and or all. You are welcome to judge us, to ostracize us, to boycott us and to vilify us. But to kill us? Absolutely not.
Four months ago I was elected by hundreds of thousands of citizens to the office of Prime Minister of the government of Israel, on the basis of my plan for unilaterally withdrawing from 90 percent of the areas of Judea and Samaria, the birth place and cradle of the Jewish people; to end most of the occupation and to enable the Palestinian people to turn over a new leaf and to calm things down until conditions are ripe for attaining a permanent settlement between us.
The Prime Minister who preceded me, Ariel Sharon, made a full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip back to the international border, and gave the Palestinians there a chance to build a new reality for themselves. The Prime Minister who preceded him, Ehud Barak, ended the lengthy Israeli presence in
Was our hand, outstretched in peace, met with a handshake of encouragement? Ehud Barak's peace initiative at
Now they have risen up against us. Tomorrow they will rise up against you. You are already familiar with the murderous taste of this terror. And you will taste more. In a loud and clear voice.
And Ariel Sharon's withdrawal from
And for six years, the withdrawal from
And make no mistake – we won't go down alone. You, the leaders of the free and enlightened world, will go down along with us. So today, here and now, I am putting an end to this parade of hypocrisy. I don't recall such a wave of reaction in the face of the 100 citizens killed every single day in
What is it about us, the Jews, “the minority”, “the persecuted”, that arouses this cosmic sense of justice in you? What do we have that all the others don't? In a loud clear voice, looking you straight in the eye, I stand before you openly and I will not apologize.
I will not capitulate. I will not whine. This is a battle for our freedom. For our humanity. For the right to lead normal lives within our recognized, legitimate borders. It is also your battle.
I pray and I believe that now you will understand that. Because if you don't, you may regret it later, when it's much too late.
END OF THE SPEECH OF EHUD OLMERT
