Addressing the Central Ashura Council ceremony in Beirut on Friday Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem expressed confidence that Israel will be expelled from Lebanese territory as the regime’s project to eliminate the resistance group has failed.
He said that the Israeli regime has failed to defeat the resistance group’s “convictions and steadfastness.”
“The enemy has not defeated our convictions, our steadfastness, our perseverance, or our continued presence in the field, and we endure all hardships and sanctions.”
He said that the principles guiding the resistance group “are among the noblest values on earth.”
“We do not fear death, and this is an essential component of victory,” he said, adding that “when the enemy confronts us with weapons, we confront it with weapons.”
Sheikh Qassem said resistance itself is a form of victory, arguing that “every step in which we reject occupation is a victory.”
“Even if none of us remained, under the pretext that there is a threat of death, for us, we are fulfilling our duty, and therefore we do not fear death.”
Sheikh Qassem further noted that Hezbollah remains committed to the principles of resistance and the liberation of Lebanese territories occupied by the Israeli regime.
He said that the resistance group has always operated within the framework of Lebanon’s constitution and the 1989 Taif Agreement, which ended years of civil war in the country.
The Hezbollah chief said that Israel’s efforts to eliminate the resistance had failed and that the regime’s forces will ultimately be expelled from all Lebanese territory by the Lebanese people.
“We were born free, and we chose to reject oppression,” he added.
Sheikh Qassem also reiterated that “massive losses are preferable to surrender and defeat.”
Lebanon is going through “the most dangerous phase,” said the Hezbollah chief, adding that the enemy’s plan is to eliminate the Resistance and its people, and to eradicate its presence from Lebanon entirely.
This is “gravest threat to the future of our homeland,” he said.
They sought to close the air, sea, and land crossings in order to prevent the arrival of weapons, technologies, and everything that could strengthen the Resistance and also to prevent reconstruction so that the people would remain displaced and homeless.
The enemy, he maintained, also sought to incite strife between the Army and the Resistance, but the awareness of the Army foiled this plot.
He called upon the Lebanese people “to uphold the principle of religious duty; as for victory, it is in the hands of Allah.”