US bears responsibility for displacement of Syrians: Sayyed Nasrallah

By Al Mayadeen English
2 Oct 2023 23:50
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In a speech commemorating the birth of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), SG Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah discussed several issues including Syrian displacement to Lebanon and Lebanon's border with occupied Palestine, among other important issues.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah speaks via a video link during a ceremony marking Prophet Muhammad's birthday, in the southern of Beirut, Lebanon, October 2, 2023 (AP)

The United States holds the responsibility for the displacement of Syrian citizens, Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said during a speech commemorating the birth of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

The Resistance leader called on officials to implement a unified national plan of action which they could present to the international community and later to the caretaker government, governmental institutions, the Lebanese Army, and Lebanese security forces, in order to resolve the crisis resulting from the displacement of Syrians to Lebanon.

He added that Lebanese political parties believe that the displacement of Syrians to Lebanon has become an economic, security, and demographic threat to Lebanon.

However, the leader did stress that the Lebanese people must treat displaced Syrians within the framework of laws and morals and not be driven into waves of hostility against them.

The leader said that addressing the issues resulting from the US involvement in Syria will greatly alleviate the burdens off Lebanon. Sayyed Nasrallah said the US created both security and economic pressures on the Syrian people forcing them out of the country.

In particular, the Ceasar Act has put great pressure on both Syria and Lebanon, as Sayyed Nasrallah reiterated that for the latter to survive, the "Ceasar Act must be lifted."

He emphasized that if the United States were to lift its sanctions on Syria, hundreds of thousands of displaced Syrians would return to their country.

Furthermore, Hezbollah's Secretary-General called on officials to produce statistics on the presence of Syrians in Lebanon, which the country has no real data on it since the beginning of the war on Syria in 2011. He also stressed the need to differentiate between those displaced and those who have been integrated into the country's workforce.

Sayyed Nasrallah touched on the wave of Syrian migration to Europe through Lebanon, warning that the European Union would eagerly meet any Lebanese demands on the issue to prevent a further influx of refugees.

Also, regarding this matter, the Resistance leader urged security forces to dismantle people smuggling networks in the country.

Lebanon's land borders

Addressing the issue of Lebanon setting its borders in stone, Sayyed Nasrallah underlined that the usage of the term "demarcating Lebanon’s land borders with occupied Palestine" is inaccurate because the borders were already demarcated.

Any mediation regarding the issue, if it occurs, will focus on the northern Ghajar region due to the issue of the two tents, Sayyed Nasrallah underlined.

Tensions along the occupied Palestinian-Lebanese border have been escalating for several months. The issue of tents erected by Hezbollah within Lebanese territories in the Shebaa Farms region continues to generate tension within Israeli security and military establishments, despite Hezbollah's recent dismantling of one of the tents.

Tensions have recently risen between Lebanon and "Israel" after the latter's violations in the northern part of Al-Ghajar — a town at the border with Occupied Palestine — represented in the construction of a barbed wire fence and a concrete wall around the entire town.

Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that there must be a distinction between the land border issue and the presidential issue.

"Some believe that we may make concessions on the land borders, that is, give up land, in order to gain support for our candidate, former Minister Suleiman Franjieh," he said.

"This has no realistic basis." Likewise, Sayyed Nasrallah said that some people link the land borders and the Iran nuclear deal, but “this has not been brought up on the Iranian-US negotiating table previously."

"We do not compromise when it comes to our maritime or land rights," he said. "Any step toward liberation will be taken in close cooperation between the state and the Resistance."

Speaking separately of Lebanon's gas blocks, Sayyed Nasrallah said: "All indicators are positive regarding Block 9, which is confirmed by the existing consortium's bidding on Blocks 8 and 10."

Going back to the presidential issue, Sayyed Nasrallah affirmed that "there was an opportunity in the dialogue that President Berri called for, but this opportunity was wasted by political pettiness."

On the Prophet's birthday

The leader commended "the great, magnificent, and beautiful Yemeni celebration of the Prophet's Birthday, despite the difficult living and security conditions," that the country is experiencing due to a US-Saudi-led blockade.

He called on Muslims to pay the event more attention, saying that the Prophet's Birth is the "greatest day of joy."

At the same time, he condemned a terrorist bombing of a mosque by extremists in Pakistan during the special Muslim occasion.

He also urged the Arab nation to bear responsibility for the events taking place in Palestine, including the desecration of the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied al-Quds. Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that if settlers' incursions into the Muslims' first Qibla continue, the Mosque's compound will be divided between Muslims and Jews.

The leader also condemned states that seek to or have normalized relations with "Israel", saying that they have abandoned Palestine and strengthened the occupation by doing so, in what constitutes intolerable action.

"When a country normalizes, it must be condemned... it is an attack on Palestinian land and Islamic and Christian sanctities."

Soft power weakens nations

On soft power and media warfare, the leader said that these two strategies have proven to be "more effective than military combat in weakening nations, and some countries have withstood military confrontations but lost in the soft and media war."

Sayyed Nasrallah concluded: "When the Arab and Egyptian armies united and were supported by some countries in the October War, "Israel" trembled; this unity almost achieved a decisive historical victory," During the October War 1973.