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The strongest message sent through the martyrdom of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is the fact that she is Christian, Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Friday, in a nod to the Israeli occupation's indiscriminate criminality that knows no bounds and is not only directed toward Muslims.

"The Israeli enemy killed Christians and Muslims, violated their sanctities, and demolished their homes [...] everyone is jeopardized by the policies of the racist and inhumane Israeli occupation that will not change," Sayyed Nasrallah said during an electoral rally in the northeastern Bekaa region of Lebanon.

He stressed that martyr Abu Akleh was a witness to Israeli criminality and the occupation's oppression of Palestinians. "The brutal nature of the Israeli enemy has not changed throughout its massacres in Palestine, Lebanon, and Egypt."

Sayyed Nasrallah offered his condolences to the families of the Syrian soldiers who were killed at the hands of terrorist groups in the countryside of Aleppo earlier today.

Bekaa always been integral part of resistance

"The Bekaa region and its people have always been an integral part of the resistance," Sayyed Nasrallah stressed, citing the people's support for the resistance since its establishment and their contribution to the founding of the movement. "It is [in Bekaa] that the most important confrontation took place in 1982, which halted the progression of the Israeli enemy."

"The shelling of the region was not only in revenge for the resistance's operations, but in compliance with an Israeli policy [Tel Aviv] closely follows to pressure people and to send a message to the people of Bekaa to expel the resistance from the region," he added.

"They want the people of Bekaa to give up the resistance and its arms through political, financial, and media aggression," he explained, recalling that the operations had been launched from the region as a whole and led to the martyrdom of many prominent leaders until the entire region was liberated, "and still, the [resistance did not halt its] operations on the Western Bekaa front."

In the southern region of Bekaa, Sayyed Nasrallah highlighted, "the most prominent and dearest men in Bekaa were martyred, Sayyed Abbas Al-Mousawi and [his wife] Um Yasser." He also praised the region for its participation in resisting the Israeli occupation during the July war of 2006, mourning the martyrs lost in Baalbek and the Western and Central Bekaa.

"You are Hezbollah, and you are the resistance. It would not be right to say you are with the resistance, because, throughout the past 40 years, you did not refrain from offering your dearest people, and you chose the resistance as your ideology," the Hezbollah chief underscored.

"There are parties conspiring against your sacrifices and your victories, and your response must be appropriate."

According to Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the people must not forget those who stood with Lebanon, i.e. Syria and Iran. "They are part of the electoral campaign today. We must also remember those who stood by Israel and offered it support while today, they advocate 'freedom' and 'independence', especially the United States and several Arab States [who are supporting the occupation] behind closed doors."

Parties prevented Lebanese Army from battling ISIS on Syria-Lebanon borders

"If the terrorist groups succeded in Syria, they would have jeopardized Bekaa and the entirety of Lebanon [...] those who supported the terrorist organizations only cared for toppling the authorities in Syria," he explained.

Sayyed Nasrallah also revealed that there had been a political decision to prevent the Lebanese Army from combatting the terrorist groups on the borders. "If [the parties that prevented the Army from combatting terrorism] had the majority in the government, they would never dare take a decision as per which the Lebanese Army responds to any aggression."

Resistance's weapons never prevented reform

Commenting on the electoral campaigns in the 2022 Lebanese legislative elections, Sayyed Nasrallah said, "We heard many funny things in the slogans and speeches. We saw a remarkable campaign of hatred, and this is an indication of the moral and intellectual decadence of some figures representing themselves as leaders who want to solve crises."

"One of them is responsible for the vanishing of $11 billion and the economic policies that led to the current crises, and he is currently saying that the path toward saving Lebanon starts with liberating the country from Hezbollah," Sayyed Nasrallah stressed.

He also stressed that there are parties "taking the Lebanese people for fools by fearmongering and spreading misinformation against Hezbollah [...] the resistance's arms never prevented anyone from repairing the power grid and building dams, nor did it take the catastrophic financial policies during the past decades."

The Hezbollah chief accused the United States and its allies of smuggling depositors' funds abroad, calling on the parties that "made their electoral lists in the US embassy" to ask Washington to return the smuggled money. He also accused it of preventing investments in Lebanon, covering up for corruption, and working to starve the Lebanese people.

"We heard that on May 15 (the day the elections will be held in Lebanon), this finger (pointing to his index finger) will be broken... I know that this finger infuriates the United States, the terrorists, and the enemies of Lebanon," Sayyed Nasrallah stressed.

"Casting your ballots on the election day is a message to those conspiring against the resistance and its arms, as well as the future of the Lebanese people," he concluded by telling the people of Bekaa and Lebanon as a whole.