BEIRUT Calling the latest US sanctions against Hezbollah “part of the battle”, movements secretary General Sayed Hassan Nasrallah Friday declared that if warbreaks out with Israel, Hezbollah will prevail.
In a speech to mark the 18th anniversary of the Israeli pullout from southern Lebanon, Nasrallah said that “From 1982 to 2000, [Hezbollah’s] abilities were rather modest.”
Nasrallah spoke Friday marking the anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon 18 years ago, following a war of attrition waged by the group that eventually led to an Israeli pullout. The day is marked as “Liberation Day” in Lebanon, a national holiday.
Speaking out on the heels of a reported Israeli strike on Hezbollah targets in SyriaThursday night,Nasrallah struck a defiant tone, stating that it does not want conflict, but that it will ‘assuredly win,’ if the two sides were to go to war.
“Israel always threatens,” Nasrallah said, yet in our closed meetings we “always talk about an assured victory against Israel in case of war.”
Israel announced last week it was the first country to deploy the F-35 in operational combat, and a photo of the stealth bomber over Beirut was broadcast on Israeli media.
Israel Air Force Commander Maj.-Gen. Amikam Norkin made the comments during the IAF Senior Air Force Conference in Herzliya, while showing a picture of an Israeli F-35 flying over the Lebanese capital of Beirut in daytime.
Nasrallah lamented that Israeli jets were able to fly via Lebanese airspace en route to missions in Syria on Thursday, and asked “Where is our [Lebanese] sovereignty?”
The Hezbollah leader also spoke about the US’ attempt to impose harsher sanctions targeting the group’s funds by going after proxy benefactors like Iran, as well as targeting top Hezbollah leaders and any businesses and companies that are aiding the organization.
“The goal is to dry up funding for the resistance. Some of our funding may be hurt as a result, but I tell America, the Israeli enemy and their agents: You misunderstand the resistance and its people…they think we’re Iran’s mercenaries, that they’ll stop our funds and we’ll stop operating,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech.
On Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed to “track down Iranian operatives and their Hezbollah proxies operating around the world and crush them.”
Washington and its Persian Gulf Arab partners also announced further sanctions on Hezbollah’s leadership, including Nasrallah and his deputy Sheykh Naim Qassem.
“When they (sanction) Lebanese companies or organizations…of course, this is very harmful, and so nobody should underestimate it,” Nasrallah said.
Describing sanctions as part of the battle, Nasrallah however said, the United states and the Tel Aviv regime are gravely mistaken to think that by stopping financial funds from reaching Hezbollah, the resistance movement will abandon its activities.”
“Sanctions and blacklisting Hezbollah official will by no means discourage people who are fighting for a noble cause,” he commented.
The Hezbollah head stated that the punitive measures by the US and its Persian gulf Arab allies also seek to harm Hezbollah’s social popularity, its allies and supporters, and dry up its financial resources.
Nasrallah also dismissed classification of Hezbollah as a terrorist group, emphasizing that it consists of honorable fighters.
Nasrallah went on to say that people from all walks of the Lebanese society proved their loyalty to Hezbollah by voting in favor of the group during the country’s May 6 parliamentary elections.
He stated that US sanctions against Hezbollah are aimed at placing those who support the group under pressure, and punishing them at large.
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