 Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said that the contents of the unsealed indictment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon revealed nothing new and that earlier reports had leaked the details of the indictment.
Sayyed Nasrallah, who was speaking through a large TV screen, stressed that the indictment only boosts Hezbollah confidence today that what is happening is a high level of injustice and politicization, and stressed that these honorable members of the resistance should not even be described as accused.
THERE’S NO RESISTANCE WITHOUT SACRIFICES
Sayyed Nasrallah began his speech by noting that there is no resistance without sacrifices. “When I speak of sacrifices, I’m talking about all the factions of the resistance, not only Hezbollah, and about the Lebanese army, security forces and people, especially its women and children. I’m speaking of tens of thousands of martyrs and young people who were put in prisons, about thousands of destroyed residences and businesses.”
Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that victories were not reached ‘for free’. His eminence noted that the victories achieved were a result of the paid sacrifices. His eminence also stressed the necessity to respect the great sacrifices of every resistance movement.
RESISTANCE ACHIEVEMENTS GREAT, ENORMOUS
Hezbollah Secretary General highlighted that the achievements made by the resistance were great and enormous, noting that the land was liberated and the enemy was forced to leave Lebanon in 2000. His eminence also pointed to the release of the detainees in the Israeli prisons, except some cases that should be followed up. “Lebanon, which had always been marginalized, has become now at the core of the equation, and they cannot but take Lebanon’s viewpoint into consideration concerning any solution or compromise in the region,” Sayyed Nasrallah said.
His eminence went on to say that the resistance is being targeted because it is an element of immunity and strength and because it is defending Lebanon’s rights. “Targeting the resistance starts with the assassination and the arrest of its leaders,” his eminence said.
WHAT’S HAPPENING WORSE THAN SMEAR CAMPAIGNS
According to Sayyed Nasrallah, what has been happening recently is worse than smear campaigns, because their campaigns had failed given that all the polls have proven that the resistance still enjoys wide support. “What’s happening now is an attempt at undermining and sabotaging the social fabric, paving the ground for wars and civil strife, dragging the resistance into civil strife and consequently striking the resistance and harming its credibility,” his eminence pointed out.
“We can confront the attempts at undermining the social fabric just like we did previously,” his eminence noted. “What I mean by undermining the social fabric is that Lebanon is a multi-confessional country and if ties among the sects are fine, the country will prosper and overcome the challenges, and if ties among the sects are tense, the leaders responsible for these tensions would be putting Lebanon on the path of disintegration,” his eminence went on to say.
INDICTMENT REVEALED NOTHING NEW
Sayyed Nasrallah then pointed to the release of the indictment in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri by the so-called Special Tribunal for Lebanon. “Since a while, I told the brothers in Hezbollah that if the STL officials were smart, they would not publish the indictment but hopefully they will, and this is what happened,” his eminence said.
His eminence said that the contents of the unsealed indictment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon revealed nothing new and that earlier reports had leaked the details of the indictment. “What has been published confirms what we have been saying throughout the last few months that this investigation is not transparent and has been leaked through Der Spiegel, Canadian TV and other media panels.”
According to Sayyed Nasrallah, the unsealed indictment by The Special Tribunal for Lebanon provided no direct evidence and was based solely on telecommunications data. “This indictment only boosts our confidence today that what is happening is a high level of injustice and politicization and these honorable members of the resistance should not even be described as accused,” Sayyed Nasrallah stressed. “We, with the help of official authorities and international experts, have categorically proven the extent of Israel’s manipulation of the telecom sector in Lebanon and that the mobile phone numbers of certain people were used without their knowledge, and this alone is sufficient to contest the indictment.”
THERE’S ALWAYS ANTICIPATED VERDICT
Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that some people are seeking to sabotage ties among the Lebanese sects, especially between the Sunnis and Shiites, in order to ignite the country and finish it and the target is the resistance.
His eminence pointed to the latest blast which erupted in Antelias region, north of Beirut. “What happened was a conflict over money that led to the explosion of a bomb and the murder of two men. But, regardless of the details, the bodies were still on ground, when some March 14 figures appeared to claim that the two men were seeking to target the Christian regions’ security, and as they discovered their sect, they fabricated the accusations. Some even claimed that Hezbollah was behind the incident. (…) The March 14 forces are the ones hurting the security in the Christian regions. Since the first day, security sides told us that the problem was personal. Yet, we said let’s wait the investigations. But with the March 14 bloc, there’s always an anticipated verdict.”
In the same context, Sayyed Nasrallah tackled the problem that recently erupted in Lassa. “The truth is that there is a conflict between the town’s citizens and the church. But, as usual, it was exaggerated and Hezbollah was accused of occupying the Christians’ land. I was not even aware of the details before the issue was raised. However, it seems that the problem is not new, and that it is even eighty-years old, before I was born, and perhaps before my father was born. That’s it, this is an old problem that was raised at this specific political moment to accused Hezbollah of targeting the Christians.”
Hezbollah Secretary General also spoke of the recent claims about military provocations in the mount. “A few days ago, the brothers in the Progressive Socialist Party called us and told us there were some fears in the mount and that people were concerned of some security deployment. The March 14 media even claimed that MP Walid Jumblatt was targeted. But, it has been proven that nothing of this was realistic, and that the municipality was working there. Thus, Hezbollah is not involved. Once again, they fabricated messages to pressure us. Who benefits from such practices?”
“These practices are not new. We remember on March 14, 2005, when they started launching accusations while Rafiq Hariri’s corpse was still on ground. (…) We even became concerned that no gas bottle explodes in the southern suburb. Otherwise, we would be accused. They even claimed that some of our members were martyred. Is it possible for us to hide our martyrs?”
RESISTANCE STRONGER THAN ALL PLOTS
In conclusion, Sayyed Nasrallah said that there was a bloc in Lebanon, which has ties with a big project that failed in everything. His eminence said he was optimistic Lebanese would be able to overcome the current stage, thanks to the presence of national and honest leaderships from all sects. “These leaderships constitute the guarantee to prevent the plot to undermine the social fabric in Lebanon.
Hezbollah Secretary General stressed that all these attempts would not succeed in influencing the Resistance. “The Resistance will remain stronger than all attempts,” Sayyed Nasrallah said. “The Resistance will always be able to protect Lebanon, its people, dignity, wealth throughout the people-resistance-army balance. The Resistance will remain committed to Lebanon, its citizens, unity, civil peace, strength, cohesion. All sedition conspiracy will go with the wind. The Resistance, that you protect, will triumph all sedition schemes. |
Lebanese newspapers on Thursday tackled the content of the indictment, in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, which was announced on Wednesday.
The Thursday edition of as-Safir daily considered the indictment “scenario” was “used up and expired” since it was typical to what was stated by the German magazine, Der Spiegel, Canadian TV, CBC, and other Israeli and Arab media.
For its part, An-Nahar Daily said the announcement on Wednesday was long-awaited, in order to reveal the secrets behind the assassination of Hariri from one side, and from the other side to examine the professionalism of the STL. 
On the other hand, daily al-Akhbar considered the indictment as an “edited” copy of the report which was published by the Canadian TV, CBC, ten months ago.
For its part, Al-Mustaqbal newspaper said that Sayyed Nasrallah has “ignored” former premier Saad Hariri’s invitation to take a “historical position”, adding that Hezbollah S.G. “tried to dismiss the indictment”.
Exciled-Palestiniane 