Events of the Liberation on the 24th of May, 2000

24/5/2000, the fourth day of liberation, the freed captives arrived in Beirut where they were received by crowds of people after having been accompanied by a long convoy of cars all the way from Khiyam town to Hizbullah Shoura courtyard in Haret Hreik, where a huge festival was held in their honour.

During the festival the Secretary General of Hizbullah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah gave a speech in which he congratulated them on their freedom saying "On the first glorious historic victory, since the start of the Arab - Zionist conflict fifty years ago", stressing that "This freedom was not a favor from anyone, not ‘Israel', nor the cowardly deserter collaborator Antoine Lahed, not the United Nations, the Security Council or the international community."

His Eminence said, "We are gathered here while at the border enemy government called on the international press to be present on one of the border gates, to show the last ‘Israeli' soldier leaving in humiliation from the liberated border zone. Now, as in recent night, they are exiting in defeat under the cover of darkness, hastily dismantling the last of their outposts, at a speed they were not prepared or planned for."

Sayyed Nasrallah said "We do not consider - with all due respect to the UN- the withdrawal that occurred today at three in the afternoon a complete withdrawal, because there is Lebanese land still occupied, and because there are Lebanese men still in ‘Israeli' captivity.. The joy remains incomplete because our brothers are still in captivity in enemy prisons."

His eminence stressed that "Those who resisted, fought and offered martyrs will continue the path until the objectives are achieved."