Naim Qassem: South Lebanon Marks the Beginning of the End for Israel
Full Speech by Sheikh Naim Qassem, Secretary General of Hezbollah, May 24, 2026, on the occasion of the 26th anniversary of the Liberation of Lebanon.
Source: naimkassem.com.lb Translation: resistancenews.org
- How Hezbollah Liberated Lebanon
- The Genocide Project in Lebanon and the Complicity of the Aoun-Nawaf Government
- The Heroic Guerrilla War of Hezbollah
- Warning to the Lebanese Government
- Palestine, Iran and Bahrain
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds. May the peace and blessings of God be upon the most noble being in all of Creation, our Master, our beloved and our guide, our Prophet Muhammad, as well as upon his pure and immaculate family, his virtuous and elect companions, and upon all the prophets and the righteous until the Day of Resurrection. May peace be upon you, along with the mercy and blessings of God.
I extend my congratulations to Muslims on the blessed Eid Al-Adha – the feast of sacrifice, the feast of giving, the feast of interaction with faith that leads to confronting Satan and crushing him, so as to raise the word of truth, the word of God Almighty, upon this earth.
How Hezbollah Liberated Lebanon
Today, we will speak of the Resistance and Liberation Festival, as well as the current political situation. We will also address Iran, Bahrain and Palestine. These are five points that we will cover one after the other, beginning with the occasion: the Resistance and Liberation of May 25th of the year 2000.
God Almighty said: “Whoever fears God and is patient – God does not allow the reward of those who do good to go to waste.” God the Most High and Most Great has spoken the truth.
The work accomplished in the beloved South Lebanon in resisting the Israeli enemy was a great and continuous endeavour, in which different forces united to expel this occupying Israeli enemy. We must here draw five essential foundations from the Resistance and Liberation Festival:
First: the Resistance is the founding principle. By Resistance, we mean all those who went through it throughout history, who founded it, who worked for it and contributed to it – this Resistance which was perpetuated with Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, the Lebanese parties and forces, to which some Palestinians also contributed. All were partners in this Resistance. The Resistance that unites leads to great results.
Second: this accomplishment – the Liberation – is one of the fruits of the foundational edifice laid by the imam of the resistants, Imam Moussa Sadr, may God return him safe and sound with his two companions. It was he who said: “Israel is absolute evil and any interaction with it is forbidden,” and: “Our duty is to be a Lebanese resistance before we are driven from our lands.” These words were spoken in that era, for he knew perfectly the history of Lebanon, the reality of Israel and the permanent aggression it had been waging since 1948 and even before.
This Resistance is also one of the fruits of the great orientation given by Imam Khomeini (may God sanctify his soul), when he declared that Israel is absolute evil. Hezbollah committed itself, from its founding in 1982, to confronting this Israeli enemy in order to liberate the land. This Resistance is one of the fruits of Imam Khamenei (may God sanctify his noble soul), who followed, persevered, supported, gave and guided in this direction, in Palestine and in Lebanon. This Resistance is the result of the leadership of Sayed Hassan (Nasrallah), master of the martyrs of the Umma (may God be pleased with him), who spoke of the victory in one of his speeches in these words: “This victory did not come for free; it is the fruit of long years of sacrifices, martyrs, patience, endurance and displacement.”
This leadership was also continuous: it began with Sheikh Ragheb Harb, sheikh of the martyrs of the Resistance, continued under the former Secretary General Sayed Abbas Moussawi (may God be pleased with him), and was carried by young resistant fighters, of whom I will name the symbol: Hajj Imad Moughnieh (may God be pleased with him), with his companions, all the cadres and all the mujahideen who resisted.
This Resistance is therefore the fruit of this believing and pure vanguard that guided and led, alongside a great number of commanders and actors on the fronts and theatres of operations, with the mujahideen and the great people.
Third: the Resistance, alongside the Army and the People, formed this triad that was capable of achieving this victory. Yes, the people were present with strength and commitment, the army was present and offered sacrifices according to its capacities and means. We hold firmly to the fact that the victory is the fruit of the solidarity of the Army, the People and the Resistance.
Fourth: this is the first Liberation to occur in the Arab world without any agreement with the Israeli entity. The Israeli withdrew crawling and fleeing; the officials of the Israeli enemy entity competed at the Prime Ministerial level over who would withdraw first, after eighteen years of the massive invasion that had reached Beirut.
Fifth: the convergence that existed between the State and the Resistance, between the officials of the State and the Resistance, was an important and decisive factor. We must here mention His Excellency the resistant president Émile Lahoud, who adopted courageous and noble stances; His Excellency the resistant (Speaker of Parliament) M. Nabih Berri, from his official position and from his leadership of the Amal Movement, which gave and offered, and who was one of those who protected and worked directly to support this Resistance and the Liberation. We must also mention His Excellency the resistant president Dr. Salim Al-Hoss (may God have mercy on him), that noble and courageous self-made man who formed, together with the presidents, the true political capacity supporting the Liberation process.
We thus stand before a great achievement. The feast of the Resistance and the Liberation is the feast of all Lebanese, the feast of free men in the world, the feast of Palestine, for it represents a victory over the Israeli enemy.
I would like to briefly address: what was liberated? What was the reason for this Liberation? You know that on March 14, 1978, Israel the enemy entered Lebanon, invaded South Lebanon, and despite United Nations Resolution 425 calling on it to withdraw, remained on 500 square kilometres for four years, from 1978 to 1982, until the great Israeli invasion of 1982 that reached Beirut. What was the pretext for the 1982 invasion? The presence of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the fighting conducted by Palestinians on Lebanese soil, and Israeli security. President Yasser Arafat left Beirut on August 30, 1982, on the basis of an agreement – approximately three months after the great invasion that had reached Beirut – and the Palestinian fighters left with him for Tunisia. Consequently, it was supposed that the Israeli would withdraw immediately thereafter, but it waited a month, allowing the Sabra and Chatila massacre to take place, in which three thousand Lebanese and Palestinian men, women and children were martyred gratuitously by the Israeli enemy and its agents inside Lebanon, without any distinction whatsoever. Then the Israeli left Beirut for Sidon, where it remained for two and a half years, occupying Sidon, the entire South and the Western Bekaa. Subsequently, in 1985, in the face of the blows struck by the Resistance, from February 16 onward, the Israeli withdrew from Sidon and certain southern areas, settling in what would later be called the occupied border strip, covering an area of 1,100 km² and comprising 168 villages. From 1985 to the year 2000, until the Liberation: fifteen years of occupation, with the creation of the South Lebanon Army, whose establishment had begun in 1978 but was subsequently further developed, the objective being to consolidate a zone under its administration and leadership, as a prelude to the establishment of Israeli settlements in the near future.
Why did the Israeli remain if it had no ambitions toward Lebanon? Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians had left; there was therefore no longer any danger or threat to it, according to its own words – but it had expansionist ambitions, and this must remain engraved in our minds. It was the blows struck by the Resistance that forced it to leave.
On May 17, 1983, less than a year after the invasion, while it was still present at the gates of Beirut, it attempted to impose the May 17 Agreement, which bound Lebanon through a security and political arrangement that made it an Israeli protectorate. How long did the negotiations last? Thirty-five rounds, from the beginning of 1983 to May 17. Thirty-five rounds of negotiations that ended in a humiliating agreement. This agreement was not, however, implemented and was invalidated at the beginning of 1984, which foreshadowed the Liberation and represented a materialisation of the results that the Resistance had been able to achieve, and was a step toward the Liberation of the year 2000.
Congratulations to all for this great Liberation, for this dignity – but we must draw the lesson that Israel wanted to occupy and to stay.
The Genocide Project in Lebanon and the Complicity of the Aoun-Nawaf Government
Secondly: on November 27, 2024, the Lebanese State concluded an indirect agreement with the Israeli entity to put an end to the state of aggression and to turn the page on the previous phase – that of the (front of) support for Gaza (opened in South Lebanon from October 8, 2023), and then of the Battle of the Mighty Ones (the name of the war between Hezbollah and Israel from September to November 2024). This agreement was meant to close that period. Hezbollah enabled the Lebanese State, through its institutions and the Lebanese Army, to achieve the deployment of the Lebanese Army south of the Litani River. The agreement protects Lebanese security on its southern flank and the security of the Israeli entity from the north of occupied Palestine. Fifteen months of diplomacy have amounted to nothing: the Lebanese State has respected its commitments, as has Hezbollah, but Israel has not respected a single term of the agreement.
We understand the weakness of the Lebanese State and its inability to change the situation: (Lebanese officials) themselves declare that they are powerless, and we believe them. But it is not to us that you should say you are powerless: say it to America. Tell them that you are also powerless to impose what they want on the inside, in the service of Israel. Why do you expose yourselves? Why do you tell them: “We will deliver what you want”? Why do you speak of a weapons monopoly [in the hands of the State] and attempt to confront your own fellow citizens, the Resistance, the people of the South, and a major component inside Lebanon, all in order to execute American and Israeli orders? We are not asking you to confront the Israeli-American project; we are asking you not to facilitate it. We have told you time and again: beware and do not become instruments of the Israeli-American project. How can the State turn against its own people? How can it align itself with the political objective of the Israeli enemy? By God, this is something strange to my eyes.
You make concession after concession (to Israel), you hold a Council of Ministers meeting on August 5, on August 7, you sign a document of capitulation, of handing over everything to the Israeli entity, even though Israel does not recognise this document. Then you wave it about and repeat day and night to everyone: “Weapons monopoly, weapons monopoly.” And here, on March 2, 2026, you decide to criminalise the Resistance and to consider your resistant people – to consider this great component with all its supporters and sympathisers, namely more than half the Lebanese people – as outlaws because they defend their land and defend themselves. It is stupefying, simply staggering.
I call on the Lebanese government to reverse these decisions, so as to be in a position to take charge of the files properly and with strength, and to be alongside its people.
Israel’s project is a project to eradicate the Resistance. My friend, by God, you yourselves know the solution: the experience of the great Israeli invasion of 1982 shows clearly what Israel wants. The experience of non-compliance with the agreement and the continuous, relentless aggression also shows this clearly. The declarations of Netanyahu and all Israeli officials on “Greater Israel” are equally clear and require no interpretation. Israel’s project is the eradication of the Resistance, of the people of the Resistance, and the progressive occupation of all of Lebanon within the framework of the “Greater Israel” project.
As for America, it is neither a mediator nor neutral: America directs Israel according to its own interests and applies pressure to extract concessions for free. The sanctions that America has imposed on a number of Hezbollah MPs, on several brothers of the Amal Movement, on the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, on an officer of the Lebanese Army and on an officer of General Intelligence – all these sanctions are aimed at applying pressure. They are powerless before the law, before logic, before practical reality, before the Lebanese popular decision; they are powerless to achieve their objectives and are trying to do so through these methods. These sanctions will only increase our firmness and prove that we are influential. The State should have said something, the government should have said something. My brothers, say two words, just protest! They said they would content themselves with what the security services had declared. Is there anything that happens in this country, even something minor and of little consequence but related to Hezbollah, without everyone speaking out? But when it involves the United States, no one remains to speak up. Are you afraid of America? Afraid of what? Say that you disagree! We are asking nothing more of you.
In any case, if America becomes more ferocious, it will have nothing left in Lebanon, because it will destroy Lebanon over the heads of its children and its own as well. America must understand that this is not how it will obtain its interests. It cannot confront this great number – more than half the Lebanese people. I even tell you that, deep down, all of the Lebanese people refuse this, but some have political calculations (that run counter to the national will and interest).
The maximum that Israel can demand is to secure its settlements, and the maximum that Lebanon can respond to is to demand security on both sides – that is, Israel cannot obtain the security of its settlements without ensuring Lebanon’s security.
As for (Hezbollah’s) disarmament, it is the elimination of Lebanon’s defensive capacity, the capacity of the Resistance, the capacity of this people, as a prelude to genocide. My brothers, understand it in plain Arabic: disarmament means genocide, and we cannot accept it in any way. All the facts prove that we and our people face a real existential danger, as a people, a homeland, a community and the currents favourable to the Resistance. My brothers, do you not look at the reports, the statements, the reality on the ground? How do you want us to behave in the face of an existential threat? You tell us: “We are compelled as an authority.” Compelled by what? They say they are compelled because there is American pressure on them. What are they telling you? State clearly to the Lebanese people what is being asked of you. I will tell you: they are told that these people (the pro-Hezbollah popular masses) must be eradicated, and you — what do you tell us when you address us as the Resistance? You say: “Help us.” I will explain it simply so that everyone understands: what does the authority ask of us? It says: “Help us disarm you, so that Israel can easily enter everywhere in Lebanon, kill you, drive you out and occupy what it wishes, and then hunt down the people of the Resistance socially, culturally, politically and existentially. Help us, for we have made them promises, and then they will let us live in this country.” In other words, you are telling us: “Help us kill you so that we can live”? Is there a rational being who would do that? Is there anyone with national honour who would do that? Is there anyone who thinks they want to be with the sons of their homeland on the same land and would do that? And you call yourselves an authority? An authority has no right to act against its people. You are an authority that represents the people, and you must do what your people want, not what you want under American-Israeli guardianship. You cannot do what you want.
The authority is responsible for protection, responsible for sovereignty. Today, we mark the centenary of the Lebanese Constitution: does the authority respect the Lebanese Constitution? Does it confront the Israeli enemy? Does it preserve coexistence? Does it protect the homeland? Does it achieve sovereignty? Does it expel Israel? All citizens are protected by the Constitution; no authority has the right to serve the Israeli project, on pain of being brought to justice for dereliction of duty and violation of the Constitution.
The Heroic Guerrilla War of Hezbollah
There are foundations upon which we stand – four foundations that I will mention:
First: Israel is an expansionist enemy that is currently committing aggression and wants all of Lebanon and the entire region.
Second: we must all unite to face the aggression that causes destruction and death, this aggression that kills civilians. My friends, in less than three months, we are at more than 3,130 martyrs and more than 9,500 wounded. What do we call this? Savagery, monstrousness.
Third: prevent discord and internal fracture, and work together for stability.
Fourth: implement the five points, namely: 1/ cessation of aggression by land, sea and air; 2/ complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and deployment of the Lebanese Army south of the Litani River; 3/ return of prisoners; 4/ complete return of inhabitants to the last inch of the Lebanese-Palestinian border; 5/ reconstruction. And then we will discuss the national strategy, including the defensive strategy.
These are the foundations upon which we stand.
Let the near and the far hear, friend and enemy alike: today, we wished to draw a clear roadmap. There are seven points, which constitute practical elements upon which we will act:
First: the Resistance will defend the land, the people and dignity. Whoever confronts us alongside Israel, we will confront as we confront Israel. These weapons will remain in our hands until the Lebanese State is in a position to fulfil its duty practically, within the framework of a clear, programmed national strategy, equipped with applicable and measurable criteria.
We are steadfast. What is happening today is one of the steps in the failure of the Israeli project. Look at the confrontation taking place today in South Lebanon: it means that Israel is failing. Israel has not been able to achieve its objectives; it kills civilians, destroys, displaces entire villages. What does this mean? It means it is powerless – it cannot and will not be able to impose its security. What is happening today is the consolidation of right by the Resistance, and the formulation of a strong, honoured and liberated Lebanese presence – a model and a symbol. And I tell you – even though some may be surprised to hear me say this now: what is happening today in South Lebanon is the beginning of the disappearance of Israel, if God wills, with the other surrounding factors, with the jihad of the Palestinian people and its immense sacrifices, for all the consequences of the wars Israel has opened are reflected within it in the form of very heavy losses.
Today, if we look at the South, every day brings a communiqué: death of the commander of Brigade 401 and eight soldiers in the South; death of the company commander of the Maglan unit; death of a Golani captain at Deir Siryan; at Al-Qawzah, a single young man kills an Israeli officer; wounded or killed, the brigade commander at Al-Shoumira; the armoured brigade commander killed or wounded. The Haddatha confrontations were exemplary: the Resistance prevented the Israeli from advancing on a limited axis eight times. Do you know what they have put the Israelis to doing? They brought ninety thousand soldiers and officers. Do you think they would have reached the first line in South Lebanon if we had not executed and respected the November 27 agreement – we who had left the area south of the Litani so that the Lebanese Army could take charge of it? When they entered, they entered a zone where we were no longer installed and entrenched. We came from various locations to fight and resist.
Israel today moves its equipment from one place to another, finds no stability either at Al-Bayada or anywhere else, tells its soldiers to hide. You see them crawling like ducks, you see them concealing themselves from the drones that swoop down on them. What is all this? It is proof of the strength of the Resistance and the people of the Resistance, and of the weakness of the Israeli enemy. They have taken measures in the settlements to prevent gatherings, to ban large buses from travelling in Nahariya, Margaliot and the various settlements over a distance of approximately six kilometres. They are living an abnormal situation. The enemy acknowledged that from March 2 onward, it had 1,064 casualties – killed and wounded combined – at a rate of 14 per day, meaning 400 per month. In the “Battle of the Consumed Straw” [name of the Hezbollah-Israel war since March 2026], 338 vehicles of various types were hit and targeted. Since April 16, 2026 – that is, more than a month – the Resistance has conducted 389 operations since they announced a truce and ceasefire. What is happening on the part of the Resistance is no small matter: there is courage, self-sacrifice and confrontation. On Israel’s side, there are real losses. But what does Israel do? It kills people, kills civilians, destroys homes; it does not engage in real combat; its presence is not military but criminal, genocidal.
You see what the drones have done to Israel? They have completely bewildered and demoralised it. And I tell you: it is not only the drone that has value – it is the resistant who strikes with the drone who has value, who pursues them from one place to another, who films them, who exposes the facts before public opinion. Without the drone footage, Israel would not have acknowledged these heavy losses. And they will continue to haunt it, if God wills.
Warning to the Lebanese Government
Second: the weapons monopoly is, at this stage, aimed at targeting the Resistance. It is an Israeli project. Get out of it. There is no such thing as a “weapons monopoly,” there is no such thing as “disarming the Resistance.” Disarmament implies the elimination of aggression. Where is the elimination of aggression? When you have put an end to aggression through the implementation of the five points, when you have elaborated a defensive strategy, you can talk.
The responsibility of the Lebanese authority is to protect sovereignty. My brothers, you are responsible – but responsible for what? Responsible for claiming your rights without fulfilling your duties? No! You are responsible for sovereignty. And I tell you: sovereignty is not only a security matter. Sovereignty is political, economic, cultural – that is, it is Lebanon that decides what it does at home politically, economically, socially and in every domain. Sovereignty is the realisation of coexistence.
If this government is incapable of ensuring sovereignty, let it leave. If you are incapable of returning (bank) deposits to their owners, if you have failed at every step of reform, of the economy and of the financial gap law… Tell me what you have accomplished in a year and a half! If you still have the capacity but are acting with integrity, continue; but if you are powerless, leave. Where is sovereignty if America manages the levers of the Lebanese State, controls its policies, takes the information, the results and the outputs, supervises the administration and controls certain appointments? Where is political sovereignty? We have no political sovereignty – we have a guardianship! And who facilitates it? The authority facilitates it for them.
Third: direct negotiations are entirely refused. You saw what happened with May 17 (1983): 35 rounds of negotiations for nothing, with no benefit. Direct negotiations are a pure gain for Israel. My friends, they gave you nothing! Even this faltering ceasefire came from Islamabad, from an American-Iranian agreement; they granted you nothing, you were able to obtain nothing.
Drop direct negotiations. You know, since the press speaks of it, I can raise it myself without revealing any secret: I advise you to drop direct negotiations, and turn a deaf ear to the United States of America. Tell them: “We have nothing more to give you,” and let them come running to you saying: “I implore you, come – what do you want so that we can reach an agreement?” America wants Lebanon, wants control, wants a political position. If you do not facilitate it, it can do nothing. So give nothing to America before it makes Israel give something, and apply pressure in the appropriate manner. My advice: leave them, and they will come to you.
You have indirect negotiation – resort to indirect negotiation. Return to national concord; let us sit together, understand one another, and find a solution between ourselves. We have the national Lebanese Army on which we can rely. All matters can be resolved internally. But do not be with them against us, stabbing us in the back. You will obtain nothing. You will obtain nothing – I repeat it. It is better for you to be with your country and with your homeland.
Fourth: our existence is threatened, and we will defend it until one of the two good outcomes: victory or martyrdom, on the path of Imam Hussein, peace be upon him, who declared: “I see in death nothing but happiness, and in life among oppressors nothing but weariness.” If anyone hopes to take something from us, they will take nothing from us. All these sacrifices are offered to build the future, for we wish to be free and honoured, not miserable slaves. These sacrifices will not be in vain. The Commander of the Faithful (Ali ibn Abi Talib), peace be upon him, said (concerning war): “Sometimes we have the advantage over our enemy, and sometimes our enemy has it over us – until God sees our sincerity; then He sends down upon our enemy dejection and upon us victory.” All this killing and destruction that Israel carries out, with America, is to make us kneel – but we will not bend, even if the whole world closes in on us. The near and the far will know that we are the heroes of the field, the people of honour, patriotism and dignity. We will remain on the field and we will not bend; we will emerge from this war with our heads held high, and the enemy will leave our land, defeated and humiliated, incapable of anything. We will rebuild the homes and our people will return to their homes with dignity. The blood of our young people and our loved ones will cause liberation, edification and a glorious future to blossom. God is with us and our people are with us. We will drive the enemy out defeated, if God wills, and we will announce the third Liberation shortly, by the permission of God Almighty.
Fifth: we spoke of social sovereignty, which falls under the responsibility of the State, and here we see from time to time reports, movements of certain ministers, attempts through the Council of Ministers. They said they had a problem called “Al-Qard Al-Hassan.” What is the problem of Al-Qard Al-Hassan? Al-Qard Al-Hassan is a social institution licensed by the Ministry of Interior, unrelated to banking and economic activity. It grants loans to the needy. Last year, 300,000 subscribers benefited from it. 300,000 people of limited income or in poverty received a loan of one thousand dollars, two thousand dollars, five thousand dollars, three thousand dollars, according to their needs and capacities. There is also a system of gold pledging, with its own method – a social method, without usurious interest, which is a (humanitarian) service. This file, the Al-Qard Al-Hassan file, presents no legal flaw from any angle of examination. The Israeli and American enemy demands the closure of Al-Qard Al-Hassan. The enemy bombed Al-Qard Al-Hassan’s branches on the pretext that this financially sustains Hezbollah. How would it financially sustain Hezbollah? Al-Qard Al-Hassan is a social lending fund. Hezbollah, if you do not know, transfers its funds in suitcases and settles them in cash. It has no connection whatsoever, near or far, with Al-Qard Al-Hassan. From where does Al-Qard Al-Hassan draw its funds? It can barely manage to provide the loans. It has no link (to Hezbollah’s financing): it is an independent social institution.
The aggression against Al-Qard Al-Hassan is an aggression against hundreds of thousands of poor people and people of limited income. You are impoverishing them further, because it is a social institution. The people have the right to take to the streets, to overthrow the government, and to resist this Israeli-American project with all their strength. And now you are going after Al-Qard Al-Hassan, and worse still: they said they wanted to finish with Al-Qard Al-Hassan, then finish with the schools, then finish with the hospitals… What are you doing, my brothers? These demands are those of whom? You should be building hospitals, schools, interest-free loan funds and so forth to save people – but you neither do it yourselves nor let anyone else do it? Take heed: this project is an Israeli-American project, and we will confront it as such.
Sixth: what is happening is not an internecine confrontation – it is an aggression. What is happening is not a war of others [reference to the discourse accusing Hezbollah of being an instrument of Iran, endorsed by Joseph Aoun] – it is the war of our existence. Officials, together we perform miracles: you have the greatest Resistance that has humiliated the Israeli army, and the world is beginning to discover that Israel is a burden upon it. Use it to liberate Lebanon and ensure its sovereignty. Be patient and do not rush.
Dear and honourable loved ones, supporters of the Resistance from all communities and all regions, you have become a model of steadfastness and of the greatest sacrifices. You will triumph, if God wills, and the great reward belongs to whoever sheltered and helped during the displacement. God Almighty said: “Those who have believed, emigrated and fought in the path of God, and those who have given shelter and rendered support – those are the true believers. For them is forgiveness and a generous provision.” (Quran)
Courageous resistants, you have plunged the enemies into confusion and bewilderment and thwarted their plans through your jihad, your courage and your immense sacrifices. You are the blazing light of the Liberation and the triumph of right. You are building the radiant future of Lebanon and the region. You are pulverising the myth of the Israeli enemy’s power under your feet. You are consolidating a dignified life for this generation and generations to come. You will inevitably be victorious: “If God grants you victory, no one can overcome you.” (Quran) All pride and honour to our martyrs among the resistants and their families, to all civilians across all the theatres of confrontation, and foremost among them the master of the martyrs of the Umma, Sayed Hassan (may God be pleased with him), Sayed Hachem (Safi al-Din, brief successor of Nasrallah), and all the martyrs, wounded and prisoners.
On this occasion, we are today commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Al-Baqir (5th Imam of Twelver Shiism), on the seventh of the month of Dhu Al-Hijja of the year 114 of the Hijra. The martyrs are on one and the same path. I particularly wish to mention among the martyrs those of the Civil Defence within the Islamic Health Authority, the Risala Scouts and the Lebanese Civil Defence, who performed something formidable in the field of medical assistance. If Israel targets the Civil Defence, targets hospitals, kills children in their homes – what can be said in the face of this? To stand idly by? I also wish to particularly mention the journalists and all the categories that contributed to facing the enemy.
There is here a duty that falls upon us toward the martyr commander Hajj Hassan Mostafa Nasser, the martyr Abou Mostafa Al-Ashqar, for in recent days we were commemorating the fortieth day of his martyrdom. This martyr has a particular value. He assumed the responsibility of the support pillar with remarkable performance, military competence, talent in management, courage in the field and high morality. We commemorate him. May God have mercy on all the martyrs. We dedicate to their souls the blessed Surah of Al-Fatiha with the prayer upon Muhammad and his family. [Recitation]
Palestine, Iran and Bahrain
Third point: Palestine will remain the compass; we will remain by its side to support and defend it. Gaza is suffering immensely at this moment. Where is the peace in Gaza? There is neither peace nor anything of the sort – only daily killings. What are the Arabs doing? What are the Muslims doing? Where are the States that say they are providing support? The so-called peace agreement in Gaza is nothing but a lie. We present our condolences for the loss of the Commander General of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Ezzeddine Haddad. Note that even the Freedom Flotilla, which is civilian and carries a small quantity of food and medicine, Israel prevents it from passing. Where are the nations of the world? Let us know that what they are doing in the world and what Israel is doing will not last and will not continue. Despite these immense sacrifices, Palestine will remain the compass and we will remain with it.
Fourth point: the war against Iran. My brothers, what has Iran done for America and Israel to wage war on it? They aggress. The aggression is evident to the eyes of the entire world. Iran has known how to face all this injustice under the leadership of Imam Khamenei (may God sanctify his soul) and after him, the Guide Ayatollah Sayed Mojtaba Khamenei (may his shadow endure), with this great people, its armed forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, to humiliate America and Israel. See the entire world sitting watching: Iran, alone, faces this immense, domineering power that is America, supported in various ways by many countries – at times through bases, at times through capabilities, at times through intelligence, at times through political solidarity – that is, the whole world or nearly so is arrayed against Iran. Iran has held its ground. Iran will emerge from this ordeal with its head held high, if God wills; it will be an exceptional power endowed with an international standing and a refuge for the free world. Congratulations to Iran for this position, this role, this resilience and this strength. If God wills, this agreement will be concluded – the signs of an agreement are present – and we will therefore also be among those whom this agreement covers – the agreement for a complete cessation of hostilities. But Iran today is at its peak.
I will conclude with a few words on Bahrain: what is the King of Bahrain doing? What is the authority in Bahrain doing? 41 scholars and opinion leaders are thrown into prison because they have a cultural and intellectual orientation, a political orientation and a point of view. Is this conceivable? It is a great scandal. What Bahrain is doing is part of the fall of this government and this authority that oppresses – its oppression is not new, but this is one of its forms: it has been oppressing for years and years, and many people languish in prison. Bahrain must return to reason and free the detainees, for oppression does not last and does not take root.
We will remain the bearers of the banner of right, liberation and dignity, until we hand this banner to Imam Al-Mahdi, may God hasten his noble advent.
May peace be upon you, along with the mercy and blessings of God.