The Lebanese Hezbollah Al-Manar TV aired the following speech on May
22 by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah:

God's peace and blessings be upon you. To the souls of the martyrs, who brought us victory and glory and this day of resistance and liberation; to the soul of Sayyed Abbas al-Moussawi, the master of the resistance martyrs; to the soul of Sheikh Ragheb Harb, the Sheikh of the resistance martyrs; and to the soul of Imad Mugniyah, the pillar of the resistance martyrs, we present the reward of reciting the opening chapter of the Koran.

I seek God's protection against the cursed Satan; in the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate; praise be to the Lord of the Universe; peace and blessings be upon our master and Prophet, the last of the Prophets, Abu-al-Qassem Muhammad Bin-Abdullah; his good, righteous family members; his noble companions; and upon all the prophets and messengers.

 Muslim scholars, brothers and sisters, esteemed audience: God's peace and blessings be upon you all. The Almighty God says in his glorious Book:  And We wished to be gracious to those who were being depressed in the land, to make them leaders (in faith) and make them heirs, to establish a firm place for them in the land, and to show Pharaoh, Haman, and their hosts, at their hands, the very things against which they were taking precautions.

 It is a source of pride for us today to come from all areas in the south to celebrate the resistance and liberation day in the city of Al-Nabatiyeh, the city of Abu-Abdullah al-Hussein, the master of martyrs, peace be upon him. It is the city of the lovers of the master of martyrs and the city of the first popular uprising in Ashura against the Zionist invaders in the name of the master of martyrs, peace be upon him. Greetings to all of you, who came from all villages and towns of the south to celebrate the day of victory, in which you were pioneers, and to celebrate the resistance day. You were the leaders, masters, martyrs, captives, wounded, mujahidin, supporters, and faithful and steadfast people of the resistance.

 You have come to celebrate the liberation day - liberation that you won with your blood and the arms of your sons and with your patience, steadfastness, and great sacrifices. It was a gift from the Almighty God and a great blessing and a reward for your sincerity and faithfulness. You deserved His victory and you deserved His promise of victory. You acted humbly and thanked God for this victory, which you offered to Lebanon and the whole nation.

 Peace be upon you, O people who reject injustice and humiliation, who protect the country, and who keep the trust. Peace be upon you, o proud and chaste people who never chose to obey the vile ones but follow the good ones. When the Zionists, who claim to have a historical right to Palestine, together with other world pretenders, asked you to choose between honor and humiliation and between war and surrender, you all - old and young, men and woman, children and elderly - shouted with your voices, blood, consciousness, and determination the shout made by your imam in Karbala, who said: 
Disgrace, how remote.

 Therefore, the resistance erupted and great leaders and martyrdom seekers were martyred while others were taken captive or wounded. You put up with displacement, destruction, poverty, hunger, deprivation, plotting, and collusion. Jihad continued and the promised heavenly victory was scored on 25 May 2000.

 Brothers and sisters: We are celebrating a great occasion. It is the Resistance and Victory Day. We are also getting closer to a great and extremely important event, represented by the parliamentary elections that will be held on 7 June. I have so much to say. However, given that we will mark this occasion in Al-Nabatiyeh today and in the southern suburb on Monday and in the city of Baalbek on Friday, I will speak only about three topics. I have divided my main topics into three events. What I do not talk about today will be postponed until Monday and Friday.

 Today's speech does not tackle all issues. Therefore, today I will speak in general, but mostly about the south. The suburb speech will also be general, but I will address the people of the suburb as well as the people of Beirut the capital and the mountain region. 
Celebrations will be concluded in the city of the sun, the city of Sayyed Abbas al-Moussawi. I will deliver a general speech and talk about Al-Bekaa and Baalbek al-Hermel. My speech today is in Al- Nabatiyeh.

 I have a number of topics and I will try to be brief as much as possible. These topics are on the resistance and the state, the spy networks, landmines, development and water, and the parliamentary elections, constituencies, and electoral lists from Jezzine to Al- Nabatiyeh, Tyre, Al-Zahrani, Bint Jbeil, Hasbaya, and Saida.  Saida is for its people and we certainly belong to its people.

 The first topic is on the resistance and state. Since the establishment of the usurping entity in 1948, Lebanon in general and southern Lebanon and the border towns in particular, which were known for decades as the occupied border strip, have been subjected to threats and ambitions targeting both their land and water and seeking to displace the people there. The south has been subjected to attacks since 1948. This is documented and well known to our fathers and grandfathers. Our generation, which was born in the 1950's and 1960's, may not know much about this stage, but our fathers and grandfathers, may God prolong their life, are still there and they talk about these past stages. This is also documented in history books, official documents, and news media reports.

 Since the beginning, the south has been in the circle of threats, ambitions, aggression, and danger. Since the beginning, the choice of the people of southern Lebanon was the state. If we recall the stances of our scholars, politicians, elite, poets, and people in Jabal Amal, we will find that their choice was clearly the state. I will mention only one document of great value and eloquent expression because that was the eloquence of Imam Sayyed Abed-al-Husain Sharaf-al- Din. I am quoting from a history book dating back to 1949.

 The text says: After the Zionists had committed a gruesome massacre in the border village of Hula - a massacre similar to the massacres of Deir Yassine and Kfar Qassem - Imam Sayyed Abed-al-Husayn Sharaf-al- Din sent a letter to President Sheikh Bechara al-Khoury. In it, he spoke about Lebanon and about independence and hopes. He said: 
Lebanon thought that time had given it what it wanted. However, with regard to southern Lebanon, the claims made were not true, meaning things were disappointing. This means negligence, deprivation, procrastination, and disregard of the south were noted in ministries right from the beginning and since the establishment of the Lebanese state.

 The status of the ministries and trivial policies adopted has caused the wise men to lose their wisdom and the patient ones to lose their patience. They adorned the preposterous and concealed deviation from the right course. It suffices to mention here the calamity of Jabal Amal, whose people's blood was spilled, whose villages were plundered, whose children were terrorized, and whose crops were destroyed by the Jews and Zionists.

 This is a document directed to some political leaders who talked about the state and who said at the table of dialogue that Lebanon was not subjected to any Israeli aggression between 1948 and 1970. 

They said Israel did not attack Lebanon except after the arrival of the Palestinian factions and start of Palestinian commando operations from Lebanon. One of the deputies attending the session - he was Hajj Ali, who might be here laughing - emerged from the meeting and brought him a volume of reports from the newspaper Al-Safir documenting that stage. He made photocopies of these reports and handed them out to participants in dialogue. That deputy, however, did not learn a lesson from them because he continued to repeat the same story. I will talk about the exercises in a while.

 Israel has been conducting drills and exercises for 50 years. How shameful it is not to be aware of the fact that Israel has been waging wars against Lebanon for 50 years, killing the Lebanese people and destroying our villages in southern Lebanon. They do not know this.

 Imam Sharaf-al-Din continues to say: This steadfast mountain pays the tax of blood to strangers who were outcast by others and by both earth and heaven. Humiliation was imposed on this great mountain. I want to interrupt Sayyed Abed-al-Husayn Sharaf-al-Din here to say: Our imam, master, and leader: Rest assured that Jabal Amal has emerged from your cloak and from the cloak of Imam Musa al-Sadr, shouting: 
Disgrace, how remote.

 Humiliation and misery were imposed on this old mountain by the ones on whom humiliation and misery were imposed since the dawn of history. This mountain, which carries out its duties and pays its taxes, is not given its rights as if it were the losing partner who pays the tax but is deprived of services. Imam Sharaf-al-Din
Continues: Did you, Lebanese president, not hear the mountain poet describe this calamity by saying: How much I yearn for its joy! I wish I could die in regret over you, o Hula.

 Then the Imam Sharaf-al-Din says: If you, your Excellency the president, have no ability to provide protection, is there also no ability to provide care? If we cannot defend, fight, and protect the country, can we not wipe tears, heal wounds, or feed the hungry? If rights are not honored, why should ingratitude continue? Concluding, he says: If you want to salute Jabal Amal, say peace on you and on Lebanon.

 These words were said in 1949 on the occasion of the horrendous Hula massacre, in which dozens of Lebanese from the town of Hula were killed. Accordingly, the project of the south and its people has always been the project of state. Imam Musa al-Sadr came after Imam Sharaf-al-Din. He shouldered heavy responsibilities. From the early 1960's until his abduction and absence from the arena of jihad, Al- Sadr's rhetoric was clear and directed to presidents and senior state officials. He used to say to no avail that southern Lebanon is a part of this country, so send in your army to provide protection and to defend it because you are responsible for its land, water, and people.

 There was no response for either one of two reasons. I will not think ill of the reasons and say there was collusion. Let us put this aside. I will say there was negligence or indifference as if the south was not part of Lebanon. Its situation was similar to the situation of the other border towns that suffered from negligence, deprivation, and indifference just like it. If we want to think well of things, we will say let us console each other. The south suffered from negligence or failure or both. In either case, the south shed precious blood and paid a heavy price.

 Finally, Imam Al-Sadr was forced to call on the southerners to purchase and carry arms. We all remember those days when the Kalashnikov that had a wooden handle was used. The youth may remember these days. Imam Al-Sadr established the Lebanese resistance battalions and asked the youth to train and join the battlefronts in Al-Tayyibah and elsewhere to defend the south and the people of the south. He, however, had never abandoned his calls on the Lebanese government to assume its responsibility in defending the south and its people. The Israeli invasion of 1982 then began and the state remained absent. I do not want to open the files of that bloody and difficult stage.

 You, the sons of Imam Musa al-Sadr in the Amal Movement and Hezbollah, together with your brothers and colleagues in the Islamic and national Lebanese forces and Palestinian factions, confronted the occupation and defeated it. All of this happened while the state was in another world, except for the few years before liberation n, precisely during the term of His Excellency President Emile Lahoud, when a clear and powerful transformation occurred. The resistance was then supported officially and backed morally. Its back was strongly protected. That was clear during the governments formed during President Lahoud’s term.

 These were the governments of His Excellency Prime Minister Salim al- Huss, His Excellency Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, and His Excellency Prime Minister Omar Karami. Today, we must underscore and praise the constancy of the positions adopted by His Excellency President Michel Suleiman since his assumption of presidency and even during his previous post as army commander. With the exception of this stage, the state was in a different world, not to say something else.

 Do you know, beloved ones, our people, what your crime was, what your guilt was? Your crime was that you rejected the occupation when you were supposed to accept it, that you stood up and resisted when you were supposed to submit and capitulate, and that you fought with your bare chests and unarmed fists - with oil, stones, and iron and with your little arms and much faith - when the whole world abandoned you. Your major crime was not only that you resisted but your greatest crime was that you triumphed, that you defeated Israel, and that you restored your land and liberated your prisoners.

 This achievement embarrassed -in the full sense of this word - all the defeatists, the silent, the terrified, and those who preach defeat and capitulation, and who surrender and forfeit rights. All of these insist on punishing you. When you faced together the July war, which was intended to crush you, and you remained steadfast, supported by the noble ones in the homeland and the nation, and triumphed, your guilt was a major one. This guilt cannot be atoned for. There are certain types of guilt that can be forgiven if the guilty repents, but there is a guilt that cannot be forgiven with repentance. The guilt that you committed and which cannot be forgiven with repentance is your victory in July, your remaining steadfast on your land, and your quick return to it on 14 August.

 I will not forget a certain remark by Speaker Nabih Berri as long as I live. Following the end of the July war, I met with my elder brother, His Excellency Nabih Berri, and he told me that day: Sayyed, we must be careful, they will not leave us to enjoy this victory and they will work to make us pay a dear price for it. Therefore, if we are fought we must pay a dear price, and if we are defeated we must pay a high price, and when we triumph we must pay a high price.

 Today, brothers and sisters, on the Resistance and Liberation Day, We, the sons and grandsons, reiterate the call of the fathers and grandfathers and we say: Yes, we want the state. But which state? Do we want the state of taxes and fees? No. Do we want the state of real estate firms? No. Do we want the state in which all of Lebanon turns into neglected sides? No. We want a strong, capable, just, courageous, and responsible state. We want the state with its army, its security forces, and political authority to defend, protect, and preserve the honor of the south. We, frankly and truthfully, do not present the resistance as an alternative to this state.

 As for the state that calls itself a state, forgets the south and the people of the south, and does not think about them or plan for them or defend them, it is not a state in the first place and the resistance cannot be blamed by them for presenting itself as an alternative to it.

 I tell you and all the Lebanese, We in the alliance of the Lebanese national opposition want to build a strong, capable, and serious state that defends its land, water, sovereignty, people, and honor. 

Through you, with you, through your will, through your vote on 7 June, and through the will of the patriotic Lebanese people, we will build this strong state, God willing.

 This state should gain people's trust and faith by deed, practice, seriousness, strong presence, constant follow-up, and confronting everything that threatens people, and not by raising slogans. If we were to give one thousand speeches saying that the state possesses the decision of peace and war while it is absent, and if we were to give one thousand speeches on asserting the state's sovereignty, while the state does not come to our land to shoulder its responsibility, then this does not solve a problem. The problem is solved when there is a state that convinces its people that it is strong and capable and pledges to protect them, maintain their security, and preserve their dignity.

 This has been the first topic, which was of course the longest. The remaining parts are not so long. The second issue is the spy networks and the agents' cells.

 First of all, we must honorably mention the efforts of the Lebanese Army, the internal security forces, and the various security services, and reaffirm that this has been the required effort from the beginning, and that this is the main duty of the security services. This is the correct course that we all should work on. The efforts that have been exerted over the past few weeks concerning the issue of the espionage network ... See, when there is seriousness, presence, and a sense of responsibility, you gain people's respect and trust. That is what we want.

 We do not want to claim any moral achievements. Let us leave the security of the resistance aside, whether they did something or not. 
We are interested in dismantling these networks, arresting these agents, and blinding the eyes of the Zionists so that the people and the country will be protected. Let everyone take medals, rewards, and high ranks. The important thing is the result.

 I would like to briefly mention certain points concerning the spy networks.

1. Large-scale popular cooperation is necessary with all the security services - cooperation by families, people, and various political forces. Whoever has information, ideas, reports, or observations must present them to the security services.

2. The cover should be lifted off spies and agents regardless of their denominations, sects, communities, areas, towns or families. 

Nobody should be protected. Nobody should provide excuses to anyone, or pretexts for anyone. Links with the enemy and treason by collaborating with the enemy is a guilt and a crime that cannot be justified at all.

3. In your name, I demand - you can either support me or you can reject what I say - in your name, in the name of the families of the martyrs, the injured, those whose homes were destroyed, and those who were displaced and those who paid taxes to build the infrastructure, I demand inflicting the capital punishment on the agents, who offered Israel information that led to all of this.

 Let us forget the jokes represented by sentencing spies for one or two months, one or two years, or even 10 years. This does not protect a country and does not protect our national security. Anyone who is lenient on this issue is a partner in shedding the blood of the Lebanese. Forgive me for being frank and hard in this matter. Do not play the game of six and six, which means sectarian and denominational balance even in the number of agents. I tell you: 
Start executing the agents from the Shia community first.

4. Today I address the rest of the spies and collaborators who are still on the Lebanese territory and who have not yet been arrested yet. I tell them: You are now completely exposed and the hands of justice will reach you soon. Therefore, I offer you the opportunity of turning yourselves in to the official security forces and the Lebanese judiciary, in the hope that this might help reduce your punishment. You spies and a gents, you must know that you are worthless to your Zionist masters and that you are worth less than a handful of sand to Israel. Therefore, take this opportunity and quickly return to your homeland, your people, and your country before it is too late.

5. We in Hezbollah have always cooperated with the security services, but today I announce that we, in the resistance, will do our utmost and fully cooperate without any reservations with all official security apparatuses as an official and popular effort to realize this noble aim; namely purging Lebanon from espionage and agent networks.

6. We must cooperate to ease tension in the political environment and prevent political and sectarian divisions in the country to reach the extent of justifying treason and collaboration. I also must draw the attention of our people in all areas, especially in the villages, to the fact that in large towns, issues normally tend to be diluted, lost, and forgotten, but in villages the dead man does not really die even after a hundred years.

 We must behave with a legitimate, moral, and brotherly responsibility. The holy Koran says:  No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another.  The father or mother of the spy or the collaborator who comes from any of our towns or any of our families is not to be blamed. Sometimes these mothers and fathers might have martyr children or children who are members of the resistance. The spy's wife and children cannot be held guilty for what he does. It is enough that this collaborator has harmed his family and kinfolk, and therefore, none of us must harm his family and his people further. 
These are our people, neighbors, and beloved ones, and sometimes our relatives. We must comfort them and stand by them because their affliction is very painful. It is more painful than any other affliction.

 I know, and you know, especially in southern Lebanon, the feelings of any family, any father, any mother, any wife, any son, or any daughter who discover that their loved one is an agent, that their husband or their father is an agent. Therefore, we must be compassionate regarding the matter. Almighty God calls on his creatures to be like him. He is strong but merciful. His compassion is great but his punishment is great as well. I ask you to show compassion and mercy towards the families, and to inflict hard punishment on agents and spies.

 One point remains on the spy network - but I want to leave some points on the spy network for another discussion later on. Spying is not always done through networks. It is possible to have a spy working alone. The Israelis contact an individual and might contact a small group - and this is rare - so that if a person is detained, the other individuals will not be uncovered, and if a group is detained, the other groups will not be exposed. These spies and networks not only work on gathering intelligence.

 There is a more serious thing than this. Some of them deal with the implementation of operations. At the home of one agent 20 kg of TNT were found. Why an agent should keep 20 kg of TNT in is home? This is a question that needs an answer. One should pause and think of it. An agent gathers intelligence. If he wants to protect himself at home, he might use a Kalashnikov, a hand grenade, or an RPG. Then why should he have 20 kg of TNT at home?

 Therefore, these are executive agents. Some agents, like Mahmud Rafi, confessed that he transferred suitcases and sacks full of explosives. Some agents carried out exploratory operations. Not only have they gathered information but they carried out exploration in the field preparatory to killing. Some agents brought in Israelis and helped them leave after the implementation of their operations. This operational side must be taken into consideration.

 Those who issue readymade stands, judgments, and judicial decisions must be convinced that this Israeli aspect must be carefully examined and we might reach a stage where we will discover many of those who had links to operations of assassinations that took place in Lebanon, epically in 2005 and later. So, stop arguing about this.

 Some of these agents played roles in fomenting troubles on the denominational level and between certain districts in Lebanon. Some of these agents confessed that one of the duties that were assigned to them was to create trouble between Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, even during these past few years. Now we have discovered that in certain towns, despite the excellent and positive climate about which I will talk in a short while between Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, and despite the excellent atmosphere, in terms of politics and sentiments, as well as social, familial, and brotherly environment in the southern villages, some problems were created and some worked to exacerbate them, and then it was discovered later that these spies were hired by Israel through these networks and spies.

 Therefore, we must be alert, and we must vehemently confront the spy networks. The third issue is very quick: the issue of the minefields. 

Many landmines have been removed, thanks to the companies and sponsor countries, as well as the efforts, supervision, and coordination of the Lebanese Army, especially the cluster bombs. The Islamic resistance contributed manpower and resources in clearing wide areas off mines, and many martyrs fell during their work.

 Now there is a problem of financing. The government is responsible for financing and for acquiring financial resources for this purpose. 

However, today, at the rally to celebrate the liberation day in Al- Nabatiyeh, I promise our people in the south that in case of any confusion or shortage, as is the case now, the Islamic resistance - men, mujahidin, and resources - will assume responsibility and will work vehemently and throughout the south, and in cooperation with the Lebanese Army, to end the problem of the cluster bombs as soon as possible, God willing. In any case, this is part of the daily criminal war that Israel continues to wage on our soil.

 The fourth and penultimate issue is the issue of development and water. Just two observations. After the liberation of the occupied border strip, we went to Bint Jabal and made a speech. Of course every speech brings us problems. But on that day the problem was with the Israelis. The Israelis wanted to raise a flag in the Bint Jbeil football field but they could not. Was this not right? We stood at Bint Jbeil and said that we were not a state, not an alternative to the state, and were not taking the responsibility of the state.

 This area has been neglected for decades. Before the occupation the state was absent, as you have read in the writings of Sayyed Abed-al- Husayn Sharaf al-Din, and naturally the state was also absent during the occupation. Now there is no occupation. Let the state come. Do you not want to impose your authority on the entire Lebanese territory? Please come and do that.

 Where was the state all those years? There is a need to develop the border areas. There is a need to implant the people on their land. 

People started to leave because there were no job opportunities. 

After the liberation, there was a big vacuum in the border area because the state did not bear responsibility. Regrettably the state continues to behave in the same way. They know the areas of Bint Jbeil, Hasbaya, Shebaa, Jezzine and other towns - the areas that were under occupation - only as sources of tax. Was the state absent?

 True, the Council of the South was there but even the Council of the South has been besieged over the past few years, in terms of its budget, in terms of stalling, and in terms of casting doubt and so on. All right, until the July war, we might find an excuse for you. 
You say that the Army was not deployed in this area and you entertained some doubt if this area was under state control, and therefore, no development efforts were made. Now three years have passed since the Lebanese Army was deployed in all area and along the border, and there are 15,000 UNIFIL personnel with the Lebanese Army.

 What have you done all these three years? Where is the state whom we are asking today to come back and shoulder its responsibility? I also tell you that the state, the government that the national opposition will establish in order to build through it a strong state, will be a just state and will implement a balanced development plan and will include the border region in its program and within its responsibility.

 Also concerning the water. Our rivers go to the sea. One day the Americans will come to us and say: There is a water crisis in the region. The water of the Litani River and other rivers goes to the sea. Why do you not give it to Israel? Do not be mean. Have you no human feelings? Yet our waters go to the sea.

 The Litani River Project, which Speaker Nabih Berri spoke about a few days ago when announcing the names of candidates, is a project for which we all should work. I will also add my voice to his and tell you that all the deputies of the south and the opposition deputies will work in the next stage to complete this project and realize this dream. This is the dream of our fathers and grandfathers.

 With your permission, I will quote from the letter that Imam Sayyed Abed-al-Husayn Sharaf al-Din wrote on 9 January 1941, during the French mandate. He sent a letter to one of the prominent leaders in which he reminded him of a number of demands. He said: Second, irrigating Jabal Amal - the land and the people - from the Litani River, whose waters are wasted because they go to the sea. This letter was sent in 1941. Now we are in 2009. Sharaf al-Din added: 

People are dying of thirst and their soil is drying up, and perhaps people and animals go to the stagnant water pools together. The situation continues to be the same. We must take this target into consideration.

 Fifth, the big and important event - the parliamentary elections - due to take place on 7 June 2009. Some people may say that in southern Lebanon there may be no competition, and that voters may not have the motives and incentives to go to the ballot boxes. However, I say to you that all the Lebanese areas are concerned with the elections on 7 June, but southern Lebanon and its inhabitants and electoral districts -for the reasons I will talk about in brief in a short while -are more entitled than anyone else and have a greater responsibility than anyone else to go in large numbers to the ballot boxes on 7 June.

 I will say a few words about the electoral districts. I will start with Jezzine, because the talk about the other electoral districts is the same. In Jezzine - where we were very anxious that the opposition participates with one list, but two lists were formed - each of the two dear allies has its own circumstances which we respect, appreciate, and understand. Eventually we reached this amicable formula. I emphasize that both allies are valued, honorable, beloved, and dear to the hearts of every man and woman in Hezbollah. 

What is the view of the young men and women?

 Everyone appreciates the sensitivity of our position and stand in Jezzine. God willing, we will work with the two dear allies in a manner that wins the satisfaction of the two allies as much as possible, God willing. However, what I should emphasize in Jezzine is that the competition of two lists from the Opposition must not be a reason for the backing away of any of the Opposition's partisan and supporters. We must all attend in force in this electoral district in order to ensure the victory of three Opposition candidates.

 I will turn to the other electoral districts. The talk about Jezzine is sensitive. I will turn to the other electoral districts. The mainstay of the alliance in the other districts is the alliance between Amal and Hezbollah together with the rest of our brothers and friends in the national parties and the respected political figures. 

I want to emphasize -prior to and after the elections -the depth of the alliance between Hezbollah and Amal. For many years we were talking about a strategic alliance, and the brothers in Amal were talking about a strategic alliance, and some people used to come up and say that is a coerced and compulsory alliance. What did they call it? A forced marriage.

 However, the years, experiences, events, and the difficult challenges, you and I both know that the past five years with all the political and security storms and military tremors that swept through Lebanon have proved that this alliance is strategic, historic, deep, strong, and as solid as Jabal Amal. No one can wager on any weakening or waning in that alliance. I assure you that this alliance was the basis of the July 2006 victory, when we integrated militarily, politically, socially, on the popular level, and in the field in every village, city, neighborhood, house, and family, and when the other allies and honorable people in the homeland embraced us.

 However, the environment - the villages, towns, cities, and markets - that was more targeted and more destroyed by the Zionists was the environment of Hezbollah and Amal Movement. We were united by the wounds, the blood of martyrs, and our affiliation to the same Imam, the same great leader, the same cause, and the same destiny.

 I would like to say that -not only during the July 2006 war - this alliance was a basic, solid, and strong cornerstone in the alliance of the Lebanese national opposition which extricated Lebanon from the most dangerous plans and the most difficult and sensitive stages in its history. This alliance is also the cornerstone in the Opposition which, God willing, will push the Opposition towards victory in the 7 June elections so as to push Lebanon towards a new stage of salvation. This alliance is primarily a national interest, and it is a southern interest after being a national interest. The first to benefit and those who stand to benefit most in security, strength, impregnability, dignity, and cooperation is southern Lebanon and its inhabitants.

 I will talk about the other alliances in the next celebrations. In Beirut's southern suburb we will talk about the alliance with the Free Patriotic Movement. I assure you that there are many politicians in Lebanon who have wagered and are wagering -and that many poisonous pens sought in the past years to sow discord between Hezbollah and Amal, between their two leaderships and between their two grassroots.

 The same incitement is still being practiced between Hezbollah and Amal, between Hezbollah and the FPM, and between Hezbollah and the other allied forces in the national opposition, whether they belong to a Sunni, Druze, or a Christian environment, by for instance constantly saying that the Opposition is Hezbollah and its appendages, and by falsely and deceptively depicting Amal as though it is subordinate to Hezbollah, or as though the FPM is subordinate to Hezbollah, or as though such and such a movement or such and such a national or Islamic party in any of the Opposition's electoral districts is an adjunct of Hezbollah. This is intended to be insulting and provocative, and of course it is also intended to incite.

 Of course it also has other aims: inciting those abroad and alerting those abroad, such as saying that if the Opposition wins it will be Sayyed Hassan who will rule: that is not parliament speaker Berri, and not General Awn, not such and such a person, not Karami, not Osama Saad, Abed-al-Rahim Mrad, not the Islamic Action Front -I am now in trouble with the names. Let the others not be angry with me, because I will not be able to mention everyone. I love them all and respect them all.

 What is meant by that -that this talk is a slip of the tongue and embellishing one's words. No, that is talk addressed to the Americans. That is talk addressed to the West: come and help us, if the Opposition wins it will rule. And they know that in the previous national unity government we had modest demands. I say to you that in the next government, may God help us, we will be at the disposal of our allies and at the service of our allies.

 However, all that talk is for incitement and provocation. No, this will not work -it will not fool the leaders in Hezbollah and Amal and it will not fool the grassroots of Hezbollah and Amal or the public of Hezbollah and Amal. Hezbollah and Amal are two big, proud, rational, mature, aware, independent, cooperative, and fraternal brothers, and according to Sheikh Ragheb Harb: There is no way to sow discord between them.

 In confronting any incitement and insinuations whispered by devils - and that is something they do not know -we rely on the level of mutual confidence and the profound and strong relationship that exists between us and which transcends politics and political interests to emotions, amity, affection, and yearning. This relationship is stronger than and above all those trivialities. 
Therefore, we in the rest of the electoral districts...

 Many people tried to write about shares and quotas. I do not know if there is a parallel or something similar. When we and our brothers in the Amal leadership began to talk about the lists and the distribution between us and them, the entire matter did not take us quarter of an hour -indeed, if I said five minutes you will say the Sayyed is exaggerating. In quarter of an hour it was all over. Now you will ask, and what did you do during the rest of the session? It is nice to sit down with Mr. Nabih.

 We do not have a problem. We do not have a problem of quotas, or a problem of numbers. We do not have any problem whatsoever. We are convinced by and satisfied with the existing arrangement of the lists and we demand such an arrangement, and we had initially proposed it. 

We did not have any demands or expectations as some people had expected, because they assumed that will create some problem. Not at all. Some people have reverted on their Internet sites and in some of their speeches to saying that Hezbollah is again talking about the religious duty. You saw, in every speech…

 The level of awareness, the level of maturity, the level of shouldering responsibility, the suffering you lived during four years -you all became jurists and Mujahid, and you do not need someone to tell you what your religious duty is. Today, I will tell you very clearly what Hezbollah's stand is. Our aim in these elections -and I will repeat that with the Southern Suburb, Baalbek, and everyone - our aim is that the Opposition wins a majority, not for the lust of power but in order to save Lebanon from plans, ideas, intrigues, and so on and so forth.

 Our share as Hezbollah in that alliance and in that majority is not important. The issue is political. Sometimes someone may come and say we are embarrassed ethically vis a vis such and such a person who is a candidate in our electoral district. The issue here is also ethical: 

loyalty to Lebanon, loyalty to the people of Lebanon, loyalty to the resistance, loyalty to the army, loyalty to the coming generations, loyalty to the future. Therefore we are facing an electoral battle in which we engage in politics and ethics when we abide closely by all the lists of the Opposition.

 I assure you that every candidate in those electoral districts -in Al-Zahrani, Al-Nabatiyeh, Tyre, Bint Jbeil, Hasbaya-Marjayoun -is a Hezbollah candidate. We deal on that basis. There remains a matter: 

Why should southern Lebanon and the inhabitants of southern Lebanon - more than anyone else -be present at the polling stations on election day? Someone may say there are no rival lists, and the others have no chance as a result of the Opposition's clear popular and mass strength in southern Lebanon's electoral districts. I will tell you why.

 Some people always try to put forward the issue of the election as though it is a referendum on the resistance and its weapons. The inhabitants of southern Lebanon are more concerned with the resistance than anyone else. The inhabitants of southern Lebanon are more concerned with the weapons of the resistance than anyone else. 
Why? Because southern Lebanon borders occupied Palestine, because southern Lebanon is the forward region that is always the target of aggression, and because southern Lebanon is more than any other region found in the circle of greed, threats, and danger. The other Lebanese regions bear with southern Lebanon the consequences of confronting the dangers, aggression, and threats.

 Therefore, it is first the inhabitants of southern Lebanon who are concerned with aggression and confronting aggression, who are threatened by the danger, who lie within the circle of Zionist covetousness, who are liable to be attacked on their own and whose homes are liable to be destroyed and who are liable to be displaced from their land and whose waters are liable to be plundered. 

Therefore, the first who are concerned to express their stance on the resistance and the weapons of the resistance and maintaining the resistance are the inhabitants and people of southern Lebanon.

 Yes, the resistance protects you and you embrace and protect it. The resistance defends you, and you defend it because you are the resistance, and the resistance is you. Therefore, on 7 June when the entire world, the world media, will be watching the elections in Lebanon -and they have sent associations to watch the elections in Lebanon -we must be present in every village, township, farm, neighborhood, and city in southern Lebanon a festive scene like the festivities of victory, martyrs, and resistors.

 On 7 June we will all go to the ballot boxes and come to the south from all parts of Lebanon to say to the world: We the people of southern Lebanon, whose homes were destroyed in July 2006, will not abandon the resistance. We the inhabitants of southern Lebanon, whose children and women you have killed in massacres perpetrated in southern Lebanon during the July 2006 war, will not abandon the resistance.

 The seventh of June should be a day on which you push every conspirator, every colluder, every mad person, and every person anywhere in this world who contemplates conspiring against the resistance.

 On 7 June, O our kinfolk, dear ones, and beloved, you must affirm that this resistance -which is you, and which lies in your hearts, minds, arms, and in the firmness of your feet on our land -is for all the inhabitants of southern Lebanon, and that it is a resistance for all the Lebanese. It is the resistance which honored Lebanon, achieved victory for Lebanon, preserved Lebanon, and restored the pride of its Cedar throughout the world.

 On 7 June you will once again prove that you are the sons of Musa al- Sadr who was -like you -the hope of the oppressed, the cry of the tormented, and a continuing cry in the face of tyrants. In conclusion, O beloved and dear ones, on 7 June you will prove once again -as you did on 22 September -that you are the most honorable, generous, and noble people.

 May God bless you, may He guide your footsteps, may He reward you well with the reward of the patient, the mujahidin, those who make sacrifices in anticipation of God's reward, and the loyal. May we meet, God willing, soon. Always when we rely on God, look in your faces, depend on you, on your consciences, hearts, and arms we look with hope at the categorical and decisive word in which we believe: 
 The time of victories has come, and the time of defeats has gone!  
Peace and God's mercy and blessings be upon you