Speech of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on the third night of Ashura

I take refuge in Allah from the stoned devil. In the Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Most Merciful. Peace be on the Seal of prophets, our Master and Prophet, Abi Al Qassem Mohammad and on his chaste and pure Household and on his chosen companions and on all messengers and prophets.

Peace be on you, my master and Lord Abi Abdullah, and on all the souls gathering around your holy site. Peace be on you as long as I remain alive and as long as night follows day. May Allah make it not my last visit to you.

Peace be on Hussein, Ali the son of Hussein, the children of Hussein and the companions of Hussein.

Brothers and sisters! Peace be on you all and Allah's mercy and blessing.

One of the well known words for Imam Hussein (Peace be upon him) which he said on his way to Karbala is: "Don't you see that righteousness is not being acted out and wrongdoings are not being refrained from. Let the believer wish to meet Allah rightful. I can't find death but happiness and life with the oppressors but tedious."

First, I would like to tackle the developments in Gaza for some minutes before moving to the primary topic of my speech tonight. Indeed following days of confrontation of the criminal Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip and the heroic resistance in Gaza, we pose before these scenes.

The first scene I will tackle is the scene of the resistance before going to the Israeli scene. So far, the resistance is presenting a marvelous manifestation of its steadfastness, firmness, morals, wisdom, courage, will as well as its capability to confront and the successive confrontations it is performing at this stage.

The second scene is the scene of the people who are embracing the resistance in Gaza. Its technical term is the embracing milieu. The people are backing, supporting and trusting the resistance and offering sacrifices along with it. These are among the elements of strength today: the resistance and the performance of the resistance, the people of the resistance and the embracing of this people to the resistance. So far the possession of the people of Gaza to this capacity and power is imposing the stance of the enemy, the friend and all the world. Here I stress on benefiting from this concept which I tackled on the Martyr's Day too.

Was the Palestinian resistance in Gaza weak or of a feeble will or of little capacities or is abandoned by its people and has – God forbids – announced its weakness and its willingness to accept any form of a ceasefire, despite all what took place on the first day, no one in the world will stop the aggression. On the contrary they would rather help the Americans and the Israelis in achieving the goals of the aggression and will practice great pressure on Gaza, the people of Gaza and the resistance of Gaza to accept the conditions of the enemy.

Thus the primary element is that Gaza stood firm, resisted, fought and remained steadfast in face of everyone what made them all embarrassed and responsible.

On the other hand, see the situation now of the Israelis who in the first hours seemed to be making achievements, presenting goals and embarking boldly on the political, security, military and moral levels. In which situation are they following few days of confrontation?

First, the Israelis are taken by surprise. They are talking about a surprise. What I mentioned on the first night seemed – by the assistance of Allah – to have been achieved. The Israelis were wrong. They were mistaken. They only thought that through the first strikes they could destroy the rocket capacity of the resistance especially the rockets with a range of 70 kilometers and more. The resistance is still able to strike Tel Aviv and some parts of Al Qods and other places.

It goes without saying that the Israelis were totally surprised as in July war. Following the first day, the Israelis said that within a 40-kilometers radius from Gaza the people are to go to shelters. Schools were off, and people were asked to be cautious. However at a farther distance things were to be natural. Why? That's because they assumed that they have destroyed the rockets which may reach more than 70 kilometers. The terms "long range" and "far reaching" may not very precise. However, they were surprised because rockets started falling on a radius 70 kilometers from Gaza. Rockets are falling on Tel Aviv, Al Qods, the surroundings of Dimona and Dimona itself. This was not in the considerations of the Israelis. It is clear that they were surprised. There may be other surprises prepared by the resistance in Gaza in this confrontation.

Moreover, the Israelis supposed that following the first day or second day or third day and after shelling and destroying and following hundreds of raids waged by Israeli planes so far on targets in Gaza Strip the resistance and the people of the resistance would make a cry for help or say they want a ceasefire for whatever price. O Arab states which have ties with Israel, please made a meditation and stop reach a ceasefire for whatever price. That's why we heard early Israeli statements in the past few days to the effect that they will not make a ceasefire unless the resistance factions cry and beg for a ceasefire.

However, what took place?

It's the very contrary? The resistance is taking initiatives and making surprises, and in Cairo talks it is imposing conditions. It is not accepting a ceasefire for any prices. No! It is rather imposing conditions. One of the conditions it set is lifting the siege on Gaza. They are talking about lifting all forms of the siege on Gaza. The resistance is talking about international and regional commitments and guarantees to the effect that Israel does not go back to assassinations and aggressions again.

So, it is not the Palestinian resistance which is today searching for any form of a ceasefire because this might not serve its interests, guard Gaza, protect the resistance leaders, and protect the people of Gaza. These demands are rightful demands made by the Palestinian resistance.

So today the Israelis who were expecting the resistance to surrender and give up are witnessing a totally different situation.

The third point is the Israeli confusion. How are they to act? What are they to do? Do they head for a terrestrial operation or not?

The statements made by some Israeli officials started to retreat. Here we notice retreat, and there we notice confusion. They are talking about fear of a topsy-turvy scene. They started talking about the repercussions of a military operation against Gaza. They started talking about the financial and economic repercussions on Israel if they decided to go that far.

This is clear on the Israeli scene. Even talking about a terrestrial operation and summoning the reserves is still so far nearer to an intimidation, a psychological war and practicing pressure. The circulated information so far is to the effect that the Israelis have called on some countries to meditate for the resistance leadership in Gaza to make a ceasefire. However, Israel does not want to give any concession or commit itself to any condition. This is objected on by the resistance so far.

Thus we are before a confused, troubled and disordered Israeli scene though the operation is still at its beginning and its first days. Here I assert to you that even in confronting a terrestrial operation, the resistance in Gaza – God willing – owns a strong capacity, will, good plotting and plots which were set following 2008 War as it has worked at filling the gaps which had appeared. The resistance in Gaza would be before a great and marvelous confrontation. I believe that the Israelis will be committing a blunder and a very big mistake should they decide to stage a terrestrial operation towards Gaza.

Thus today we have a scene of an aggression and at the same time of a resistance which is strong and capable and with a chance to make victory. Well, some people might say it is early to talk about this. No! It's not early. These words are based on facts, data and true elements of strength.

Now we come to the Arab and Islamic stance. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation – which was called the Organization of Islamic Conference – did not say anything yet as well as the Arab and Islamic states. Indeed some Islamic states took stances such as Iran and Turkey and other. We are talking about the Arab countries. We heard some stances. So far, there are stances of condemnation, denunciation and sympathy. However so far there isn't any true stance. The strongest stance we heard is that Israel must be punished. Well great! How? What's the suggestion? What's the idea? What's the punishment you suggest? So far, we did not hear anything. We do not want to say anything before hand. There is a meeting for the foreign ministers of the Arab states. We were able to hear the word delivered by the Lebanese FM. He expressed an excellent stance. He called on Arabs to sever ties, suspend and annul agreements, and practice pressure on the international community. He presented a call for a group of steps and procedures. However, until the very moment in which I came here, several Arab foreign ministers have spoken however of nothing of any value. On the contrary, some only spoke to self-whip. They said that we are Arabs and we are not able to do anything and that we must make reconsiderations….

However, I do not want to say anything before hand. We will wait for the statement which will be issued by the foreign ministers and the Arab League.

Indeed, withdrawing the Egyptian Ambassador from Tel Aviv is a good step. The visit of senior Arab officials to Gaza is a good step. This is a good development in the Arab stance. However, so far we are below the least expectations. As we said in the first night, the Arab states are required to take a stance that practices pressure on Israel to halt its aggression and also to meet the rightful conditions of the Palestinian resistance on top of which are lifting the siege and all its forms and stopping all forms of assassination or aggression on Gaza and the leaders, cadres and people in Gaza.

Nothing of what is required from the Arab states has so far appeared. We did not hear so far any threat to sever ties, annul agreements or suspend agreements or use the weapon of oil even if as we said raising the costs of oil or reducing the production to pressure on the United States. That does not need much. With a phone call, Obama may stop the war.

We do not want anyone to deceive anybody. This is the truth. Today a phone call from Obama stops the war. However, few hours ago what was Obama saying? He still supports what Israel is perpetrating. He is still covering what Israeli is doing.

That means that so far he hasn't hear one word from an Arab leader to the effect that either you – Obama – practice pressure on Israel or we will take a stance to do so and so….

However, we still hope that the Arab states – especially at this stage – take an appropriate stance. I am even telling you that we have fears that some Arab stances practice pressure on the Palestinian resistance to abandon its rightful conditions so that they later they would say we had a role to reach this calm situation and as such they would be presenting their credit cards to the US administration and President Obama and others.

What's required today is true support and a true stance. Gaza is able to make victory. It only needs this serious support.