The Victorious: Series Chronicling the Resistance in Lebanon (Video)

Sara Taha

"Al-Ghaliboun" (The Victorious) is a series of 37 episodes aired and produced by Al-Manar TV Channel during the Holy month of Ramadan. The series has drawn a wide audiences and a diversity of critiques, as for the first time, a television production that is totally dedicated to narrating the story of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon against the Israeli occupation, is being aired. The story was inspired from the popular environment in South Lebanon, and the emergence of the resistance in response to the Israeli invasion in 1982. It recalls the incidents the Lebanese in the south had passed through, in addition to a life of glory, sacrifice, patience, tenacity and heroism for a community that has always believed in “the victory of the blood over the sword”. The major importance of this work lies in the historical facts that make it a draft of history that narrates the period of martyr Sheikh Ragheb Harb, and the first self-sacrifice operation in modern history, when Martyr Ahmad Qassir drove a vehicle laden with explosives into the Israeli military command headquarters in Tyr killing more than 140 occupation soldiers, injuring hundreds others, and leveling the building to the ground. The series also chronicles the life of two resistance heroes, Ali and Fares, on the personal and social levels, as well as during military operations against occupation forces. The two young friends receive scholarships to study in Paris, but the Israeli invasion in 1982 put their lives on two different courses. They decide to stay in their homeland. Ali and Fares apply for working with the Islamic Resistance to fight the occupation, but the resistance leadership approves each of them separately, asking them to keep mum about what they do, thus making each one believe that the other was rejected by the resistance leadership. This development changes their lives radically. Ali becomes a courageous resistance fighter who executes successful operations against the Zionist enemy and its agents in Lebanon, and Fares becomes a double agent for the resistance and conceals his real patriotic identity from his Israeli “operators”. As both Ali and Fares keep their work a secret from their families, rumors start emerging in their villages, specifically about Fares who gets engaged to Ali’s sister. Meanwhile, “The Victorious” highlights the barbaric Israeli occupation’s oppression as well as it’s soldiers’ rape attempts; and their permanent schemes and endeavor to sow division among the Lebanese and lure citizens to spy for them. One of the episodes further recalls the Sabra and Shatila massacre that kills the wife of Ali’s brother, and causes the abduction of the latter’s son, to later turn out that he was departed to Haifa in the occupied territories. In parallel, other scenes remind of the Zionists’ abuse and torture of the Lebanese citizens, while revealing that these attempts were useless before the will of the resistance community. The series was produced by Al-Manar and directed by the Syrian-Palestinian Director Bassel Al-Khatib. The script was written by Fathallah Omar. As for the cast, hundreds of Lebanese actors from various religious backgrounds participated in the series, in addition to distinguished guests from Syria. The actors include, Ammar Shalaq (playing the role of Sheikh Ragheb Harb), Abdel Majid Majzoub, Ahmad Al-Zein, Fouad Sharafeddine, Wafaa Sharara, Toni Issa (Ali), Mazen Moaddam (Fares), Darine Hamza, Pauline Haddad, Pierre Dagher, Pierre Jamajian, Youssef Haddad, Majdi Mashmoushi, Christine Shouweiry, Alain Zoghbi, Ali Saad, Faisal Oustwani, Hisham Abu Suleiman and Ali Al-Zein. Al-Manar TV Channel started airing the production at the beginning of Ramadan, while Bassel Al-Khatib held a speech indicating that “The Victorious” was one of the major Arabic drama productions, and dedicated it to the courageous martyrs in Lebanon and Palestine. A scene from the second episode of “The Victorious”:

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