Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah made a televised statement two days after the martyrdom of freed detainee Samir Kuntar...

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah made a televised statement two days after the martyrdom of freed detainee Samir Kuntar in which he reminded Israel that Hezbollah will respond to the assassination of any member of the resistance in the way, time, and date it chooses.

After sending his greetings to the Christians in the region and the world for the birth anniversary of Jesus Christ (as) , and to the Muslims for the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad (as), Sayyed Nasrallah offered condolences over the departure of Sheikh Mohammad Khatoun who passed away Sunday, and expressed solidarity with the Nigerian people after the massacre that took place last week.

His eminence called upon the Nigerian president and government to release Sheikh Zakzaki whose three sons were martyred last year on the hand of the Nigerian Army during the procession of Al-Quds day in Nigeria. He further expressed his fear that Israel, US, or terrorist sides can be behind this operation in attempt to engage Nigeria in sedition like the case in many other countries in the region.  

On leader Samir Kuntar's assassination, Sayyed Nasrallah made it clear that Israel was the only side behind the operation as "Samir Kuntar was facing the threat of being assassinated since the first day of his liberation, because the Zionist enemy neither forgives nor asks for forgiveness".

Martyr Kuntar, who devoted his entire life for the Palestinian cause was labeled by Sayyed Nasrallah as the "lover of Palestine".

"Palestine was his whole life, its destiny, and the destiny of its people and resistance was his major concern. In our first meeting after his liberation, I told him he had the choice to work in various fields, political, media, academic, or jihad, and his response was that 'I left Palestine only to return to it'. He even reassured that he was ready to take part in any military operation inside Palestine or Shebaa farms. He didn't want to be an official but a resistance fighter," his eminence explained.

"This lover is not just a believer, but a believer and an expert who was committed and ready to sacrifice based on faith," he added.

Sayyed Nasrallah asked: "We have faced decades of conflict with the Zionist enemy, and a large number of leaders and martyrs were killed on this path, yet what was the outcome?"

"Generations were handing over the slogan to the generations after," his eminence affirmed, pointing out that "the blood of Samir Kuntar assure that the resistance slogan will not fall but will rather move from one hand to another and from one generation to another."

As Sayyed Nasrallah considered that "the blood of Samir and his martyrdom will add to the love, determination, and awareness of the Palestinian youth who are facing death through the operations they are performing," he indicated that the martyrdom of Samir Kuntar had made out of him a 'school in sacrifice'."

Sayyed Nasrallah referred to the martyred 16-year-old Palestinian girl Ashraqat Al-Qatnani who was killed by Israeli occupation soldiers after performing a stabbing operation.

"This young lady with so much awareness, firm determination, and deep and honest recognition of the cause which she sacrificed herself for and set it as a priority differentiating between the enemy and the friend," he said.

His eminence reiterated the pledge he had given after the assassination of the resistance leaders in Qunaitra in January, reassuring that "martyr Samir Kuntar was one of us, he was a leader in the resistance and was assassinated by Israel, therefore we ought to respond to his assassination in the time, place, and way we see is appropriate. Hezbollah will perform this right with the aid of Allah."

In another context, Sayyed Nasrallah tackled the US attempt to disfigure Hezbollah, whether through forgery accusations against the resistance or through attempts to cutting out its voice from the world.

"Since 1995, the US had put us on the terrorism list, and for decades it had tried to impose this label on many countries, yet it failed to impose it on us ," he asserted, noting that "today the US is trying to give us another label, which is a "criminal organization' that is involved in money laundering, drug dealing and human trafficking, and all these are certainly false claims that have nothing to do with reality."

"This new US accusation is a political one aimed at disfiguring Hezbollah in the eyes of the people in the region and the world, as it has previously spent big amounts of money on the same purpose. The US had even spent millions of dollars to build a barrier between the Lebanese youth and Hezbollah," his eminence clarified, considering that "in order to confront these US lies, we must assure that all these psychological and media measures will not affect us. On the financial level, we assure that we don't have any bank accounts and we don't transfer our money in that way."

As for the US pressure through media, Sayyed Nasrallah stated that "the US wants to accuse you, prosecute you, punish you, and kill you, and after all that you are not permitted to send your voice to the world in order to defend yourself. This is the US which brags about democracy and freedom yet prohibits media outlets which disagree with it to express their points of view."  

Hezbollah secretary general stressed that "media is part of the battle and we must not surrender but rather find other available tools to let the world hear the voice of the resistance," and reassured that "watching the US occupied with us and announcing new types of wars on us gives us certainty that we are on the right track and assure that Hezbollah is facing the US and Israeli plots in the region, and is part of a system that has defeated these plots."

"It is our pride to be the enemies of America and Israel... and we will not give up or surrender in this battle," Sayyed Nasrallah concluded, reiterating the popular stance made by Sayyeda Zeinab (as) year 61 Hijri: "Plot your plots and widen your efforts, by Allah you will not erase our memory... We repeat this statement today from the same position and logic, for neither measures nor sanctions will affect us, they will rather add to our perception and determination on moving forward on this path."