Nasrallah touts armed strategy on 'Liberation Day'

Lebanon's Hezbollah secretary-general says armed resistance led to the end of the "Greater Israel" project.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah 370 (photo credit: REUTERS/Sharif Karim)
Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah 370
(photo credit: REUTERS/Sharif Karim)
Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah on Friday called Israel’s construction of a barrier along the northern border a potent testament to the victory of armed “resistance groups,” according to the NOW Lebanon news website.
Speaking on Lebanese Liberation Day, which commemorates the IDF’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000, Nasrallah said: “Liberation day ended the project called ‘Greater Israel,’” according to NOW Lebanon.
“The project of Greater Israel always aimed for big territory bordered by rivers,” he said. “These walls built by Israel along the border with Palestine and Lebanon show that the project of Greater Israel is over. The project of having rivers as borders ended with having walls for borders.”
In an apparent reference to Egypt, which negotiated the return of the Sinai Peninsula in 1979, Nasrallah touted his country’s record of having achieved the withdrawal of the IDF without resorting to diplomacy.
“The land of the south was restored to the Lebanese with dignity and without conditions,” Nasrallah said.
Hezbollah’s secretary-general said the strategy of armed force has been the only one to produce results.
“The weapons of the resistance have accomplished [something], but the weapons of other organizations did not accomplish [anything],” he said.
Nasrallah’s comments on weaponization came amid ongoing calls in Lebanon for the organization to disarm to give the state a monopoly on weapons.
Nasrallah also commented on the formation of a national unity government in Israel, saying it was the result of domestic political considerations. He warned, however, that Lebanon must remain vigilant against Israeli aggression.