Sayyed Nasrallah: Aug 28 2nd Liberation Day, Daesh Had No Choice but to Surrender

Zeinab Essa

Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivered Monday a speech in which he tackled the 2nd liberation resembled by withdrawal of last terrorist from Lebanese terrorist.

As His Eminence saluted the sacrifices of the Lebanese Army, he condoled the families of Hezbollah, Lebanese Army and Syrian Army fighters who fell in both “Barren of Dawns” and “If You Revert, We Shall Revert” battles against Daesh.

“I offer my warmest condolences to the families of the martyrs – the families of the martyrs of the army and the soldiers who were kidnapped by Daesh several years ago, while awaiting the final confirmation on the file of the bodies.

I also salute the families of the martyrs of the Lebanese army, the Syrian army and the resistance,” he stated.In parallel, Sayyed Nasrallah stated that he understands the angry responses on his latest speech, especially that “we have been used to such talk since the year 2000.”

However, His Eminence commented on some remarks that are related to Hezbollah’s credibility and morality. “This is something that we cannot take lightly,” he mentioned.”

Statements talking about so-called Hezbollah’s blackmail to the Lebanese Army and government over the file of kidnapped Lebanese soldiers are meaningless. Those who commented either did not hear my speech or it reached them taken out of its context.

It is not Hezbollah that resorts to blackmail over a humanitarian file. Those who talked about so-called Hezbollah’s blackmail are either ignorant or mean,” Sayyed Nasrallah stressed.

Regarding the field developments, Sayyed Nasrallah revealed that Hezbollah rejected any negotiation away from revealing the fate of kidnapped Lebanese soldiers.”

As the battle intensified on both fronts, Daesh terrorists found themselves cornered, they surrendered and collapsed after the decisive battle. When they asked for negotiations, we set our conditions,” he clarified.Moreover, His Eminence unveiled some aspects of these negotiations.

“We conditioned that all militants leave the Lebanese territories and Syrian Western Qalamoun and that the fate of the Lebanese soldiers is uncovered.”

According to the Resistance Leader said:

“We told them if the soldiers were still alive, we wanted them. If they were killed, we wanted their remains.”

In parallel, His Eminence uncovered that Hezbollah refused to release Daesh prisoners from Roumieh Prison and to split the stages of negotiations.He further revealed that Resistance demanded the release of its fighters on all Syrian fronts, the return of its martyr bodies, the release of the two bishops kidnapped from Aleppo and Lebanese photojournalist Samir Kassab.

“Daesh said that they neither have the bishops or Kassab, but only one of our kidnapped men captured in Deir al-Zor. They rarely keep a captive, and they usually end up killing them. As for the remains, it turns out they leave the bodies in the deserts. Neither the living nor the dead have dignity for them,” he elaborated.Sayyed Nasrallah went on to say:

“Daesh was ready to negotiate on our martyrs and prisoners, while postponing to unveil the fate of the captured Lebanese soldiers. However, we refused. We also refused the separation of the phases and insisted on a complete solution, including to uncover the fate of the Lebanese soldiers.”
“As the shelling from both fronts continued on Daesh positions, the militants were informed that Saturday is a deadline. So, on Sunday they informed us of the soldiers’ remains location. We called the Lebanese General Security and they informed the Lebanese Army. Daesh gave the bodies and evacuated the area to the Syrian Bou Kamal region,” he highlighted.

In addition, His Eminence confirmed that “what happened in the military and political sense is Daesh’s surrender and defeat.”

“The total number of departures is 670: 331 civilians, 26 wounded and 308 militants,” Sayyed Nasrallah underscored, noting that “the beginning of the battle, Daesh wanted a ceasefire but the battle continued on both fronts so it collapsed and surrendered in the end.”

He further said that “All agreed that if the Lebanese and Syrian land is liberated from Daesh and the fate of the soldiers was not uncovered, the victory will be incomplete. So, we had to slow the pace of the battle to unveil the fate of the soldiers.”

His Eminence also stressed that “at the end, the battle achieved all its objectives: expelling Daesh from Lebanese territories, uncovering the fate of the soldiers and securing the border.”

Meanwhile, he said: “11 Hezbollah fighters and seven Syrian soldier were martyred. The area of the battle extended to 310 square km2.”

Hailing the new victory, Sayyed Nasrallah praised the fact that “we obliged “Israeli” Occupation and the Takfiri threat to withdraw from Lebanon. Today, we’re in front of a full Liberation of the Lebanese territories.”

“28 August 2017 is the date of 2nd Liberation in Lebanon,” he declared, noting that “today there remains no terrorist from Daesh on any Lebanese soil. We have scored a great victory on terrorist groups, that have received regional and international support. We must not forget that this great victory was achieved through cooperation between Lebanon and Syria.”

As Sayyed Nasrallah called for celebrating 2nd Liberation on Thursday, he stated that the people of the Bekaa Valley “made the victory happen” and that “the people and the resistance will celebrate the victory.”