Speech by Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem at the memorial service for Sayed Abbas Ali Moussaoui, August 25, 2025.

Note: The first part of this speech, not translated here, paid tribute to Sayed Abbas Ali Moussaoui, a Lebanese scholar who passed away the previous week. In the political section translated below, Naim Qassem is more virulent than ever, mocking the Lebanese government for its betrayal, servility, and impotence—at least between the lines, as Hezbollah has always remained committed to national unity, even in the midst of storms.

Source : naimkassem.com.lb

Translation: resistancenews.org

[…] Thirdly, on August 28, 2017, the Ersal plateau (on the Lebanese-Syrian border) was liberated during the battle of Fajr al-Jouroud. This battle, led by the Lebanese army in cooperation with the Islamic Resistance—Hezbollah—achieved this great victory.

We recall here that this battle against the Takfiris, ISIS, and their allies was waged on the firm decision of the former President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun. This bold and courageous man made the decision to launch the battle of Fajr al-Jouroud, despite U.S. pressure opposing any cooperation between the Army and the Resistance. Nevertheless, he insisted on waging this battle, and coordination was established between Hezbollah and the Lebanese army command, represented at the time by General Joseph Aoun, who cooperated fully. This is therefore an example of a defensive strategy, in which the Resistance serves as support to the Lebanese army in major liberation missions.

Fourth, Israel bombed Yemen. As usual, it struck civilian facilities and killed civilians. It targeted electricity, buildings, residents, and innocent people. Israel is the greatest criminal there is. Israel, which is committing genocide in Gaza before the eyes of the whole world—could we expect anything other than these crimes in Yemen?

See Assassination of Yemeni Ministers: How the Media Normalizes Israel’s Crimes 

But here we salute dear Yemen, which has taken a heroic, exceptional, and rare stance in the eyes of the whole world, and which will go down in history as the only one to have stood up with such firmness and pride to support the people of Gaza and Palestine.

Where are the Arabs? Where are the Muslims? Where is the free world to stand with Gaza? In any case, it is this position that will lead to victory, God willing. However arrogant Israel may be, this entity will eventually fall, God willing.

I now come to the political section of my speech, which I will divide into three parts.

First: Lebanon must restore its sovereignty over its territory. All the problems we suffer from stem from the Israeli enemy and the occupation, as well as from U.S. support for Israel, which covers up all the violations against Lebanon and perpetuates occupation and aggression.

If we want to solve our problems in Lebanon, we need a starting point. And that starting point is to restore national sovereignty: to put an end to all aggression, to obtain Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories, to begin reconstruction, and to free the prisoners. Without this starting point, we will not be able to solve our problems.

The current government has a responsibility to develop a political, media, military, and operational plan to restore sovereignty. There can be no stability without sovereignty, no development without sovereignty, no recovery without sovereignty. Sovereignty is the absolute priority, and the government must assume this task and this responsibility.

I call on the Lebanese government to hold intensive discussions on how to restore sovereignty and to study plans and programs: diplomacy, arming the Lebanese army, decisions on war and peace, national security strategy, defense strategy, and anything else that can help the government restore the sovereignty of this country.

I also call on the parties, elites, and influential figures in Lebanon to assist the government in its deliberations and in developing plans. Publish your proposals on social media and in the press, and send them to the government so that it can see that there are many feasible suggestions that can be taken up.

Devote this week to this task. Let us say from Monday (the 25th) to Sunday (August 31): devote this week to submitting proposals to the government. Demand it—even if you flood them with suggestions. The government and the ministers have websites and social media accounts: inundate them with your proposals. Challenge them, urge them, tell them you are present. Fill the screens and the media with demands for sovereignty. This is an essential condition that must be met.

Write articles, spread the word about this priority. And even if foreigners are disturbed by your national and sovereign spirit, which permeates all of Lebanon, do not abandon the Lebanese stage, do not abandon the Lebanese sphere, do not abandon the Lebanese media—so long as sovereignty is not the fundamental demand toward which the government is working.

I have chosen a slogan that may be suitable for dissemination: “We demand that the Lebanese government restore national sovereignty.” I repeat: “We demand that the Lebanese government restore national sovereignty.”

Let us work under this slogan for at least one week, so that this government feels that we are with it on sovereignty, and that it is responsible for working to achieve this sovereignty.

I know that some of our brothers will reproach me for this and say: “You should have given us this slogan earlier, so that we could prepare ourselves, act in a certain way, and be present on a general level.” In reality, I preferred to propose this slogan in this way, so that the result next week would be spontaneous and natural, and would reflect the interest of the people and of all forces in the issue of national sovereignty.

Secondly, I have heard a number of analysts and parties claim that the Resistance has fulfilled its mission and no longer has a reason to exist. Why? According to them, it is because it can no longer deter the Israeli enemy or inflict heavy losses on it, and therefore there would be no need for it to protect the country as it has done for more than forty years.

It seems they neither understand the meaning of the Resistance nor what it accomplishes. Today, I will speak to you about what the Resistance is.

The Resistance is aimed at defense and liberation. The Resistance is the people and its inhabitants. The Resistance is faith and will. The Resistance is homeland and honor. The Resistance is pride and perseverance. This Resistance is the very opposite of humiliation, capitulation, submission, and acceptance of foreign diktats. That is what the Resistance is.

The Resistance is the sacrifice of blood, money, wounds, and imprisonment. The Resistance is not the army of a state, but the support of the national army. It does not replace it, but strengthens and assists it, and the army remains the primary force responsible for the defense of the homeland. This army must be armed, supported, and entrusted with this responsibility: it is the army that must protect the country. The Resistance is an auxiliary factor.

According to this definition, the Resistance has not lost its mission. We hear people say: “The Resistance did not protect against aggression, and the proof is what happened.” But what are these (nonsensical) words? Who said that the Resistance prevents aggression? The Resistance was born to confront aggression. Why does it exist? Because aggression exists, and it is a reaction to that aggression.

They say: “Israel attacks, and you have not been able to prevent the aggression.” My brother: we confront the aggression, we do not prevent it. To prevent aggression, there must be repeated clashes, heavy losses inflicted on the enemy, sacrifices and patience, and cooperation between the Army, the People, and the Resistance to confront the enemy. Only after some time can we establish an equation that deters enemy aggression.

But the essence of the Resistance is to confront aggression, not to prevent it. It cannot say: “As the Resistance, I will prevent all aggression.” The aggressor will inevitably attack. The Resistance is the reaction to that aggression. The Resistance confronts aggression, repels it, expels the enemy, and obstructs its objectives. That is the Resistance. It does not prevent aggression if the enemy has decided to attack, but it confronts it. I will explain where the misunderstanding lies.

In Lebanon, we have an exceptional Resistance—great, effective, victorious, and dazzling in the eyes of the world. For it has succeeded, in a way unmatched by any other Resistance movement in the world, in truly deterring Israel. From 2006 to 2023, a span of 17 years, this Resistance kept Israel at bay: Israel did not dare approach. This is an unprecedented achievement. Ordinarily, resistance entails a constant back-and-forth, unceasing battles, until Israel withdraws. But in the case of Hezbollah and all the honorable resistance fighters who comprise and support it, we succeeded—thanks to the triad of Army–People–Resistance—in deterring Israel for 17 years. And before that, for six years, from 2000 to 2006, there was already a form of deterrence. And before that, in 2000, Israel withdrew without an agreement, without conditions: an extremely rare occurrence in the history of resistance movements.

The Resistance has therefore accomplished exceptional, unprecedented results. After such achievements, can we settle for less? Should we accept the disappearance of the Resistance? What is the alternative? It is to surrender to Israel, to capitulate before Israel, to abandon your capabilities and your potential. That is the alternative.

What happened in the past, what Hezbollah accomplished in Lebanon, is a divine providence that resistance movements usually fail to attain. Let it be clear: Israel can occupy, destroy, and kill. But we will confront it with defense and sacrifice, so that it does not entrench itself and achieve its objectives. We are capable of this, and it will continue.

Without the Resistance, Israel could have reached the capital Beirut, as it reached Damascus. Without the Resistance, it would have occupied 600 km² of Lebanon, as it did recently in Syria. But it is held back on just a few hills by the Resistance. Do you think Israel is satisfied with these five hills, which have now become seven? No: it has a plan for the future, it is pursuing an occupation tactic. If it is limited to these hills (for now), it is because the Resistance has deterred it from going further—just as it deterred it from advancing and launching a large-scale invasion, and from continuing its aggression as before.

Today, the Resistance does not only have a mission, but a greater, even more essential one. It will remain an impenetrable bulwark preventing Israel from reaching its objectives. Israel will not be able to maintain its presence in Lebanon, nor to realize its expansionist project across Lebanon.

God the Almighty says: “Our Word has already been pronounced concerning Our servants, the messengers: they will surely be supported, and Our armies will undoubtedly prevail.” (Qur’an 37:171–173)

Thirdly and finally: the Lebanese government has taken the disastrous decision to disarm the Resistance and the people of the Resistance, while Israeli aggression and expansionist ambitions continue, under the nefarious supervision of the United States. This government decision is unconstitutional, and it was taken under the dictates of the United States and Israel. If this government persists in this course, it will have betrayed Lebanon’s sovereignty—unless it reverses its decision. And to reverse this decision would be a virtue.

See Naim Qassem: Calls to Disarm Hezbollah are Unconstitutional and Only Serve Israel 

As for U.S. action, we regard it as an enterprise to destroy Lebanon, an incitement to discord. Until now, the United States has imposed sanctions on Lebanon. To this day, they deprive us of gas. They work day and night to obstruct reconstruction and to block the arrival of aid promised by various countries that have publicly declared their readiness to support Lebanon, but who are prevented from doing so because the United States does not want Lebanon to recover.

The United States provides the Lebanese army with just enough weapons to wage internal battles, but it denies it access to weapons that would enable it to confront Israel. Such weapons are forbidden. The United States prevents the country from obtaining the weaponry that would protect it.

So what, then, are the United States doing? Some extol their merits and claim that they are “doing good.” But what are they really doing? May God damn them: they are “doing good” for themselves—they are plundering the country. Since the events of 2019, nearly six years ago, they have been working day and night. All the unrest, consequences, disruptions, and collapse that have struck the country have been orchestrated and supervised by them. They sent people to meet with NGOs to teach them how to protest. And if the protests had no effect on the country or the government, there was no objection to blood being shed—because, according to them, blood spilled during protests contributes to creating revolutionary and fundamental solutions and paves the way to success.

The United States, which interferes in Lebanon’s affairs, is not trustworthy; it even poses a danger to Lebanon. Trump wants to establish an economic zone in Gaza and expel its inhabitants; and now, according to Axios, he wants to create an economic zone in southern Lebanon to drive out its inhabitants and hand it over to the Israeli entity. Netanyahu wants “Greater Israel,” which would encompass Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt, in addition to Palestine—all of Palestine. Do you not hear what they are saying? Have you not seen what they have done lately? Have you not learned from the outcomes? You want to remove the weapons that liberated the country? Then stop the aggression! If you want to extend your sovereignty, stop the aggression! If you are acting in Lebanon’s interest, why disarm the Resistance?

You stand against those who sacrificed ten thousand mujahideen—men, women, children, and the elderly—over the past decades, and especially during the period of the Al-Aqsa Flood and afterward, around five thousand martyrs, foremost among them the master of the martyrs of the Ummah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah—may God have mercy on him—as well as (his successor) Al-Safi al-Hashimi, the commanders, the martyrs, and the people. All of them offered their sacrifices for Lebanon’s dignity and sovereignty. And now you would cast it all aside? Would you confront those who liberated the country? Instead of standing behind them? Instead of supporting them? Instead of relying on them, as was the case during the battle of Fajr al-Juroud and throughout the previous struggle?

Know this: we will not abandon the weapons that made us proud. We will not abandon the weapons that protect us from our enemy. We will not allow Israel to roam freely in our country, killing resistance fighters and seizing the South. Remember that those who served Israel’s project were not served by Israel. The experience of Lahad and Haddad (Lebanese collaborators during Israel’s occupation of the country, abandoned at Liberation) proves this.

So let us remain united and cooperate. These weapons are our soul, our honor, our land, our dignity, and the future of our children. We are all united on this land: Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, the allied forces, the Lebanese people, the inhabitants of the South, the Bekaa, Mount Lebanon, the North, the suburbs of Beirut, and Beirut itself. Our supporters are numerous: they represent more than half of the Lebanese people, not to mention the influential political forces. Together, they protect the weapons to protect Lebanon, the Lebanese Resistance, the inhabitants, the people, and the dignity of Lebanon. Whoever wants to disarm us wants to tear out our soul. And if that happens, then the world will see our strength. And never will we choose humiliation (slogan of Imam Hussein).

You ask, “What should we do?” The roadmap is before you. Expel the enemy from our land. Expel them, end the aggression, free the prisoners, and begin reconstruction. That is the roadmap. Then, after that, come and discuss the defensive strategy.

Regarding the Lebanese prisoners held in Israel, see this sharp Hezbollah statement from August 21:

We, along with the Lebanese people, were surprised by the announcement from the Israeli enemy that it had received an Israeli from the Lebanese authorities in a unilateral step, during which Lebanon did not recover any of its citizens held captive by the enemy. This raises deep questions and suspicions about the negligence of the authorities and their failure to seize the available opportunity to carry out a prisoner exchange with the other side.

What the Lebanese authorities have done in this matter is condemned, reprehensible, and shocking to the people. It must be subject to questioning and accountability by the relevant parties, as it reflects recklessness and irresponsibility by those who managed this highly important national file in such sensitive circumstances.

What has happened clearly and blatantly reveals the failure of the responsible authority to assume its responsibilities properly, especially in such a serious and critical matter as the file of prisoners and detainees in the enemy’s prisons. This has caused deep shock to their families and loved ones and sent a message of shame and betrayal to them and to the Lebanese people — that their state is indifferent and fails to utilize its cards of strength, squandering them freely, while the occupying enemy persists in committing its crimes, aggressions, and violations.

The officials concerned in the authority must clarify to the Lebanese people, particularly the families of the prisoners, the full truth of what has occurred. Moreover, the competent judicial and security authorities must open a comprehensive investigation to reveal what truly happened so that the necessary measures can be taken accordingly.

Hezbollah Media Relations
Thursday, 21 August 2025

Some have said: “One step from us, one step from them. And you, as a party, begin with one step.” But everything we have accomplished in eight months, and since the ceasefire, everything we have offered in the South (the disarmament of Hezbollah south of the Litani River)—is that not already a step? Do you trust this Israeli enemy? And the United States that supports it? They are not trustworthy. So: no “one step from us for one step from you.” No to this process that calls only for concessions (from Hezbollah and Lebanon, with nothing conceded in return). Let them implement the ceasefire agreement, let them fulfill their obligations, and then we will discuss the defensive strategy.

The young Akhtal, a Lebanese poet (1885–1968, whose real name was Saïd Aql Richa), said:

Those who died have an excuse, not those who surrendered.
If glory is destroyed and the fortress desecrated,
So it is with building the glory of a homeland:
Whether for the one who wields the sword or the one who wields the pen.

So respect what we have agreed upon, O government, for we will hold you accountable for what you have promised us. Constrain Israel, stand firm! Do not turn your back and say: “We are under pressure.” Tell them: “We cannot.” Tell them: “The situation is difficult.” My brother, who is asking you to confront us when you are not capable of doing so? They are asking you to kill your family, to destroy your country and your forces, and you reply: “At your command”? Is that even conceivable? No—do not say “At your command”!

And even if you do say “At your command,” you are not capable of carrying it out! It is better and more honorable to say from the outset that you are not capable, rather than to show later that you are incapable. If you tell them: “We cannot,” do not be afraid, do not fear for your seats. Your seats are guaranteed. They will find no one better than you (in subservience), nor anyone else to replace you. If you act as heroes and with courage, be assured that they will be left with no alternative. And even if others came, they would be able to do nothing.

So be courageous and stand firm. We will support you in this noble position. We will be with you. Together we will build our homeland with our means and our capacities. How sweet it is to eat bread earned by the sweat of one’s brow, and how bitter it is (for a guest) to eat refined dishes while (oppressive) feet crush his head.

May God honor you with His glory, and may He abase the unworthy.

And may peace be upon you, as well as God’s mercy and His blessings.

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