Hassan Nasrallah: our experience in Syria will enable us to liberate Palestine

Interview with Hezbollah Secretary General Sayed Hassan Nasrallah on August 19, 2016

Translation: unz.com/sayedhasan

Transcript:

[...] Journalist: With an ally such as ISIS, criminals such as ISIS, [Israel] must be quite at ease, Sayed.

Sayed Hassan Nasrallah: But they are certainly not at ease, at least they, the Israelis, are betting on ISIS and all this takfiri project in the region... but in any case they know, the Israelis, the Americans, and all those who use the takfiris, that this project has no future. I tell you, and I also reassure everyone through this interview. This project has no future.

What is this project? Imagine, for example, that ISIS would put forward their project of State to people. Or the Al-Nosra Front, which has the same ideology, the same books, the same fatwas. Imagine they'd come to present their State. Already, what do they have to do with non-Sunnis? The Shiites cannot live in the State of ISIS, nor the Christians, nor the other denominations. All right. Can Sunnis live in the State of ISIS? The Sunnis ?! Those who claim to belong to the people of the Sunna and of the Consensus, just like ISIS pretends to. (Of course not. Because) ISIS claims that the Sunnis (who do not embrace ISIS) are disbelievers. Can (Sunnis) live in the State of ISIS? (No one can live in such a murderous State).

Here is their practice: cutting heads, executing for the most trivial reasons, (even fighting and killing each other)... Basically, this is not the religion of God, it is impossible for this to be the religion of God, and it is not (the teachings of Prophet) Muhammad b. Abdillah’s, peace and blessing of God upon him, who was sent as a Mercy to the worlds. It is not possible, it is absolutely impossible. Basically, no human being with a human nature, a minimum of aspiration to freedom, space, a little dignity, can live within the ISIS State.

Well then, what is the future of this project? Kill, kill, kill, kill... In the end, the killings must stop. Certainly, a great catastrophe has been created, and the Islamic Community is currently paying a huge price...

Journalist: Excuse me a moment, Sayed...

Sayed Hassan Nasrallah: Please.

Journalist: Certainly it has no future, for even those who created ISIS know that it has no future. But perhaps they wanted to drain the Resistance for several years...

Sayed Hassan Nasrallah: Sure.

Journalist: ... and especially Hezbollah. That is why some say that the Hezb drowned or was drowned in the fight against the ISIS nebula, the Sunni-Shiite question, and so on. This is the game they are playing: at first Israel stays quiet, and after resting, this Zionist enemy will throw itself against the Resistance.

Sayed Hassan Nasrallah: No... Look, on this question, the spell turns against the sorcerer, God willing. The spell turns against the sorcerer. Now, for example, look at the Israeli discourse... First, whether Israel or all the others (standing at its side), they exaggerate a lot when they talk about the number of our martyrs in Syria. There are really comic exaggerations.

Journalist: On purpose?

Sayed Hassan Nasrallah: Excuse me?

Journalist: (They exxagerate) on purpose?

Sayed Hassan Nasrallah: On purpose, yes. Well, at one point, they said that they will drain Hezbollah, drown it, kill it, etc., etc., in Syria. Well, now what does Israel say?

As a result, it says that Hezbollah gains experience it never had since its foundation to this day, it has earned it. The most important thing that worries Israel, what is it? It is not the defensive experience and the defensive war, because from 1982 to 2000, until 2006, Hezbollah was in a defensive perspective. Even our tactics were defensive tactics. We did not attack settlements or enter Palestinian territory. Before 2000, we were attacking [Israeli] positions in Lebanon. Even attacking such and such position, even if they were offensive operations in appearance, they took place in a defensive setting.

Well, when Hezbollah comes into the battle in Syria, and fights like a very large formation, and with very diverse armaments, or as part of a very great bulk of forces with all kinds of armaments, and participates in offensive operations, and expels armed groups, who are not regular combatants, especially the foreigners, fighters with such a great level of committment (fanatics, ready to die), when it kicks them out of very vast geographic expanses, this means that Hezbollah gains an offensive experience, a vast experience of liberating territory through continuous and direct military operations, and not through the guerrilla warfare. And Hezbollah had no such experience before the War in Syria.

This is what frightens and terrifies Israel. Because what Hezbollah does in Syria, if a war comes against it, it will do it in Galilee. This means that the promise of Galilee, which is of course a conditional promise, because some say it is an absolute promise, (no), it is a conditional promise. I said, “The day may come when the Resistance leaders will ask [its fighters] to enter Galilee.” And that day may come. And the Resistance may ask for it. I do not change any letter in my statement. Well, if God forbid, a war took place, and Hezbollah leadership decided to enter Galilee, these are soldiers who have not only trained themselves in this kind of war, but they will have practiced this war for years...

Journalist: Against all nationalities...

Sayed Hassan Nasrallah: ...and it will have cadres (ready for it). Perhaps at least the people, the one who designed this strategy (launching ISIS against the Resistance), now thinks, “If only we had not cooked up this whole story from beginning to end.”

You know, Mrs Kawthat, in this issue, while training, an armed force can practice as much as it want, and even when it makes massive maneuvers with heavy weapons, artillery fire, and attacks of regiments, brigades and battalions, the result is still a result of training. But as for the forces that participate in the fighting, real combat, with martyrs, wounded, suffering, dangers, real bombing and a real liberation of territory, this experience is much more than (mere training), it is (invaluable) experience. And (on top of know-how), it fills Hezbollah with will, determination, confidence, breaking down psychological obstacles, prestige, level of courage... [It is real].

That is why the Syrian trial, if we could reach, with God's permission, a reasonable and proper conclusion in Syria, how will Hezbollah emerge from this battle? It will emerge... If it emerged from the July 2006 war as a regional power, it will emerge from this war as a genuine military power representing a force capable of liberating territory, not (only) in guerrilla warfare, but even in a war that much resembles classical wars (between national armies).

On this point, no, Israel is indeed frightened and certainly not reassured. It is apparently happy [and shows off] for the eyes of others, but in reality, it is frightened about the consequences of this situation, of which it is not known whether they will be in the interests of the United States (and its allies and instruments).

Journalist: All their calculations were wrong.

Sayed Hassan Nasrallah: Yes. [...]