Excerpts from the speech by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, July 18, 2012:
Brothers and sisters, there are many issues I liked to speak about, but regional developments, particularly in Syria and what happened today, forces [me] to set aside a part of my speech to [address] the regional developments. …
I have two [proofs] for Syria’s [Resistance] role. The first one is that the most important rockets that targeted Haifa and the center of Israel were made by Syrian military and given to the Resistance. Syria was an aid to the Resistance and gave [us] weapons that we used in the July War. Not only in Lebanon, but also in the Gaza Strip.
Israel, today, is afraid of Gaza and afraid for Tel Aviv. Who gave [Gaza fighters] the rockets? The Saudi regime? The Egyptian regime? No. They were rockets from Syria and transferred through Syria. The Syrian leadership was risking its interests and existence in order for the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine to be strong. Show me one Arab regime that does the same.
What does this mean? For Syria to give Hezbollah, Hamas and the Islam Jihad Movement weapons at a time when Arab regimes prevented food and money from being transferred to Gaza? Syria sent weapons and food to Gaza and took a risk to do so. This is Syria, Bashar al-Assad’s Syria, the Syria of the martyrs Assef Shawkat, Daoud Rajha and Hassan Turkmani [who died in Wednesday’s explosion in Damascus].
In a day like today, we have to say what is right. Let our words be to the liking of whoever, and he who does not like them can swear all he wants. There is a US-Israeli scheme that prevents a regional state other than Israel from having a strong army.
The only army in the region which was not trained by the US and which was not equipped with the US was the Syrian army. There was work underway to destroy this army. The US, the West and their tools in the Arab region used the rightful demands of the Syrian people and engaged Syria in a war.
It is Israel’s right to be happy today because pillars of the Syrian army were targeted and killed. Israel’s aim is for Syria not to have a strong army. We call again to maintain Syria, its people and army. The only solution is to hold dialogue.
We owe these prominent leaders [who died today in Syria]. We offer the Syrian leadership, army and people our condolences and we condemn this attack that only serves the interests of the enemy. We have full trust that the Syrian army has the ability to remain standing.
Let us think for a while of who benefits from what is happening in Syria.
