By Tasnim News Agency, Edited by Al-Ahed News
On the occasion of Lebanon’s 17th anniversary of victory against the ‘Israeli’ enemy in the July 2006 war, Head of Hezbollah’s Liaison and Coordination Unit, Hajj Wafiq Safa revealed unheard-of memories of the battle against the ‘Israeli’ regime.
Safa emphasized that the unfolding developments in Gaza, West Bank, and the borders with Lebanon expose the corrosion of the ‘Israeli’ deterrence.
Despite mentioning that it is still early to predict that the future battle with the enemy is the decisive one, the senior Hezbollah official underlined that the ‘Israeli’ entity is facing a governing crisis in the first place, in addition to internal Palestinian threat, external threat from the Lebanese side, as well as an external threat on the regional level from the side of the Axis of Resistance.
“This means that the ‘Israeli’ enemy is facing an existential threat, added to the governing crisis, which combined together reveal that the past ‘Israeli’ deterrence has reached the zero level. A good evidence on this is the ‘Israeli’ practices in Gaza,” Safa said, asking “What did the ‘Israeli’ army do with Jenin, the West Bank, and its northern borders with a tent set by Hezbollah on a land we refer to as Lebanese?”
Thanks to this tent, Safa explained that all ‘Israeli’ settlements located along the borderline with Lebanon are spending sleepless nights, and wondering “where is the army that protects us?”
Safa further elaborated on the details of the prisoners’ exchange between the Islamic Resistance and the Zionist regime after the 2006 victory.
The Hezbollah chief negotiator in various political and military cases also touched upon details which were left unsaid about the 2006 war, the maritime boundary delimitation between Lebanon and the ‘Israeli’-occupied Palestine, the struggles of Palestinian resistance factions against the Zionist occupiers, Hezbollah's negotiations with other Lebanese political factions to advance the case of electing a new president of the republic, and the US interventions in the political developments in Lebanon and the region.
In response to a question regarding the reasons for initiating the 33-day battle, Safa said, "Contrary to the claims of Zionist officials who attribute the beginning of this battle to the capture of two Zionist soldiers by the resistance forces, I believe that was not the cause. Instead, I believe that even before this event, the enemies had planned to attack Lebanon."
"The course of events following the start of the battle, especially the statements of senior American officials about the 'New Middle East,' indicates the reality that the enemies of the Lebanese people had already prepared conspiracies against our nation even before this, and during the battle, this fact became apparent to everyone," the senior Hezbollah official went on to say.
He considered the meetings of the leaders of the March 14 Movement with the enemies as another sign of the alignment of some Lebanese political factions with the country’s enemies to eliminate Hezbollah's resistance. "Despite the political pressures exerted by the enemies, they failed in achieving all of their predetermined goals, such as disarming the resistance, freeing ‘Israeli’ captives, and pushing the resistance back from South Lebanon during the 33-day battle," he added.
The head of Hezbollah's Liaison and Coordination Unit hailed the role of ex-president Emile Lahoud, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri as two prominent political faces of the resistance in defending the resistance's weapons and thwarting the enemy's conspiracies during the 33-day war in 2006.
Continuing with his recollections as Hezbollah's chief negotiator during the large-scale exchange of prisoners between the resistance and the Zionist enemy in 2008, Safa referred to Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as the head of the negotiation team. He also mentioned other members of this team, including martyrs Hajj Imad Mughniyeh and Sayyed Mustafa Badreddine [Zolfiqar]. Safa added that the team's responsibilities included overall preparation of the negotiation process, designing and arranging questions, and scheduling sessions, all under Sayyed Nasrallah’s supervision and guidance.
With respect to the extensive list of prisoners that Hezbollah aimed to exchange, which included individuals from various nationalities such as Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian, Algerian, and others, Safa, while explaining the complex dimensions of the exchange negotiations process, regarded the negotiation team's ability to keep the fate of the two ‘Israeli’ captives unknown as an art.
The final achievement of these negotiations was the release of all the prisoners sought by the resistance, including martyr Samir Al-Quntar,' and the repercussions affecting the ‘Israeli’ army and settlers after the completion of the exchange process, in addition to the revelation of the inevitable fate of the two Zionist captives who returned dead to the occupied lands, according to the senior Hezbollah official.
In response to a question about last year's maritime boundary delimitation between Lebanon and the Zionist regime and the commencement of oil exploration by a French-Qatari company in Lebanese energy fields, Safa said, "Hezbollah supported the official position of the Lebanese government from the beginning, and it was only after witnessing the Zionist enemy's deviation at the beginning of the process of exploiting energy resources that it decided to compel ‘Israel’ to respect Lebanon’s rights."
Referring to the empty words and threats of Zionist regime's officials regarding the issue of resistance tents in South Lebanon, Safa commented that "‘Israel’ initially complained to the UNIFIL forces about the tents set up by the resistance in a Lebanese territory and asked them to pressure the resistance to retreat. After witnessing the resistance's indifference, they resorted to threats and repeatedly extended their deadlines, showing that they lacked the military capability to confront the resistance. Eventually, they also spoke of the necessity of negotiations on this matter. This clearly demonstrates Hezbollah's deterrent power."
"The resistance forces are always in a state of readiness because these tents have been erected inside a Lebanese territory, and any trespassing or interference is prohibited," he underlined.
Asked about his recent negotiations with Lebanese Army Commander General Joseph Aoun, Safa denied any involvement in the political process and discussions with various political factions in Lebanon regarding the issue of presidency. He further clarified that his meetings with General Aoun were solely for the purpose of countering threats emanating from terrorists in border areas, coordinating with UNIFIL forces on the Lebanese-Palestinian borders, and controlling the security and social situation in certain areas in South Lebanon. The senior Hezbollah official ruled out any political motivation behind these meetings.
"Within the Hezbollah Political Council, there are multiple individuals, each with their own responsibilities for advancing various issues," Safa said, while denying any role in the negotiation process and talks with different political factions in Lebanon regarding the presidential affair.
On the level of his refusal to shake hands with the US intelligence officer in Lebanon during a public event, Safa commented, "Hezbollah believes that it cannot negotiate or cooperate with two entities: the Zionist enemy and the US government."
He went on to explain the situation, saying, "Hezbollah's approach towards the US government has always been consistent. Despite continuous efforts by American officials to send mediators for negotiations between US and Hezbollah, especially myself, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has consistently emphasized that it is the US government that has designated Hezbollah as a 'terrorist' organization and opposes it. Therefore, we will not even greet them, let alone engage in negotiations."
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