Nasrallah: Any assassination attempt by Israel on Lebanese soil will be met with ‘powerful’ response

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah made the remarks during a televised speech broadcast live from the Lebanese capital city of Beirut on Monday evening as he addressed a ceremony held to mark the sixth anniversary of Lebanon’s Second Liberation.

The Second Liberation took place on August 28, 2017, when Lebanon’s army and Hezbollah fighters liberated the country’s northern and eastern borders from Daesh and other Takfiri terrorists who were threatening the lives of Lebanese and Syrian people.

Back then, Nasrallah named the occasion the Second Liberation after the first liberation in 2000, when Hezbollah, along with other Lebanese resistance groups, forced Israeli occupation troops to withdraw from Southern Lebanon and Western Bekaa region.

During his Monday speech, Nasrallah said Israel has carried out many assassinations over the years of conflict with the resistance front, but has not been able to weaken the resistance.

“No type of threat will be able to stop the resistance front and its forward march, but will make it more steadfast and powerful,” the Hezbollah leader said.

“No assassination attempt on the Lebanese soil targeting the nationals of Lebanon, Palestine or Iran or other countries would go unanswered,” he added, stressing that Hezbollah will not allow Lebanon to turn into an open arena for assassinations.

“The enemy must admit that it has hit a historical, existential and strategic dead-end and has no way out of it,” Nasrallah said.

“US commander of war against Syria”

Elsewhere in his speech, the Hezbollah leader turned to the current situation in the neighboring Syria, saying what is happening in Syria has been planned by the United States, which has sought help from a number of regional countries.

“Since day one, the commander of the ongoing war in Syria has been the United States and the US ambassador has owned up to this,” he said.

Nasrallah went on to note that armed Takfiri elements fighting against the Syrian government were only a tool in the hands of the United States.

“Daesh was just an excuse for US forces to return to Iraq and they also used them as a pretext to enter Syria and occupy the part of the country lying to the east of the Euphrates [River],” the Hezbollah leader said.

Referring to Washington’s brutal sanctions against Damascus, Nasrallah said anti-Syria sanctions and the so-called Caesar Act were put in gear after Americans understood that the military option has failed and the Syrian government’s standing is improving.

He noted that the United States is currently occupying the oil-rich part of Syria east of the Euphrates, and continues to plunder the country’s oil.

Stressing that Syria and its allies can easily liberate east of Euphrates, the Hezbollah leader said, “If Americans wanted to fight, we would welcome that [decision] and it would be a real war that would change all equations.”

“Resistance in West Bank is will of Palestinians”

In another part of his speech, the Hezbollah leader touched on the ongoing resistance against Israel across the occupied West Bank and the regime’s claim that it is based on an Iranian plan.

“The intensification of [anti-Israel] resistance in this region and Israel’s inability [to stop it] has made [the regime’s Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu claim that what is taking place in the West Bank is planned by Iran.”

“The resistance [against Israel] across the West Bank totally stems from the will of Palestinians,” Nasrallah said, adding that such claims only prove foolishness of Israeli officials.

“They have forgotten that the Palestinian nation fought against them before the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and even if the [regime of former Iranian] Shah was still in place, Palestinian people would still fight, because this people have every right to live [on their own land],” Nasrallah said.