The Political Segment of Sayyed Nasrallah’s Speech on the Ninth Night of Muharram 1443

The political segment of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speech on the ninth night of Muharram 1443 AH on 8/17/2021

[…] Let us continue with the developments: 

The first point: When I was talking about the problem of gasoline, diesel, foodstuffs, medicine, etc., I said that the state, of course, bears the responsibility – the performance of the relevant ministries, the central bank, etc. But I also said that a large segment of the people bear the responsibility. 

Most companies, most gasoline stations, even many people are turning out to be neither station owners nor company owners. It turns out that these people are hiding 40 thousand liters, 100 thousand liters, 400 thousand liters, and one million liters. Some said 400 tons, I don't know how accurate these numbers are. But this is found in different regions. We also talked about monopoly, etc. I don't want to repeat.

I missed a point due to lack of time. We should be transparent and clear; it is the second reason other than the one I talked about. The second reason is smuggling. I’m talking about this so that no one gets the impression that we agree with it or accept it.

With regard to smuggling, the Central Bank was offering the dollar at 3900. Meanwhile, companies brought in ships, hid some materials, and sold others to stations. Gasoline stations were doing the same thing. There was a lot of demand and a lack of supply. There were two reasons, one is monopoly and the second is smuggling.

If you notice in the country, there are certain political forces that focus more on smuggling and ignore the issue of monopoly. It is possible that there is a staffer here or there involved in such transgression, but the movement or political party he belongs to does not agree with his conduct and condemn it. But there are senior leaders who are, for example, partners with companies or owners of some gasoline stations who hid fuel. I do not want to mention the names so as not to accuse anyone. This all needs to be checked, but I know that they covered up the monopoly and focused on the issue of smuggling because this means they are attacking Syria and the Syrian regime and trying to accuse Syria’s allies in Lebanon that they are the ones smuggling.

I'm going to talk a little bit tonight and finish this topic in a few words.

1- Smuggling, especially subsidized materials:

1.    Last time, I said that this matter is, of course, incorrect, unacceptable, and not permissible. Basically, the person buying diesel or gasoline from the station, the gas station buying from a company, or the company buying from outside are at the price of 3900 LBP for every dollar – the rate intended for sale to the Lebanese people in Lebanon. When you are selling wherever, even to our ally and friend in Syria, you are betraying the trust. You are violating something essential in the contract, with the sale, that is taking place between you and the company or between you and the station, in addition to harming people, which was happening. This is one.

2.    Hence, we reject smuggling, and we don't approve of it.

3.    We do not provide cover for anyone. Let someone say that the Lebanese army, the Lebanese security forces, or the Lebanese judiciary stopped individuals, Lebanese or non-Lebanese, smuggling diesel and gasoline to Syria, and Hezbollah intervened to release them. I am transparent and clear. Whoever has a name or an example, please say them. I tell you more than this. We not only approve of this, but we also do not smuggle petrol and diesel to Syria. We sit, work, and call companies and stations to secure a little bit of diesel for some hospitals, for some municipalities, for some generators, and not to smuggle to Syria. I tell you more than this, and I don't know if the brothers in Syria will agree or not to what I'm about to say. Procedures and transportation for the diesel and gasoline from Iran need some time. hence, in the past week or the past ten days, we contacted officials in Syria and asked them: Can you give us, even a little, a certain amount of diesel per day, just for the hospitals? If we can get fuel for hospitals and bakeries, or, for example, a factory that produces serums, etc. – i.e., some specific cases. In principle, they gave approval, but they wanted to see with the Ministry of Oil if they can provide us or not. After 48 hours, they looked into their affairs and said we can't provide you. We are just like you; our situation is difficult. We were looking for ways to bring diesel from Syria to Lebanon and not smuggle diesel or gasoline from Lebanon to Syria. More than that – now, there are people who will be shocked and will not understand. In the past few days, I received an implicit message from higher ranking officials in Syria saying, “O Sayyed and our brothers, help us in Lebanon to prevent smuggling into Syria because this is harming our economic and program.” I am sure there are people in Lebanon who will say what is this talk because they cannot comprehend, but this is what actually happened.

We support all the measures that prevent smuggling, so let the state assume its responsibility and prevent smuggling. They should not listen to whoever provides cover, whoever protects anyone from whom they do not accept whoever. In any case, the crisis is not over yet. It is still ongoing until God Almighty knows. Tonight, I made myself very clear regarding this title and this file.

One thing remains. It became clear through facts and events that those who are engaged in smuggling to Syria may be Syria’s allies and apparently enemies as well because when you talk about trade, buying and selling, and the price difference in dollars, it is not a matter of politics, religion, or morals. It is about profit and greed.

I will conclude with one last point in the smuggling issue. It is possible for someone to ask – as usual – why doesn’t Hezbollah prevent smuggling from the Bekaa? In the south, there is no smuggling because there is no border with Syria. In the north, we are not present there. Even though it turns out that a lot of smuggling operations are taking place in the north. Well, you are in the Bekaa, why don't you prevent smuggling from the Bekaa? Of course, this talk is unacceptable. Do you know what it means that Hezbollah will prevent smuggling from the Bekaa? It means that the Lebanese army or security forces has not been able to close the border crossings since the Lebanese state was established. Hezbollah is required to send a military men to all these crossings, be there, and to fight with the people and the smugglers! This is not the job of Hezbollah but the state’s. There is something worse than smuggling that was happening in the Bekaa, which is the security incidents – theft, shootings. 

The atmosphere in the Bekaa became that, O Hezbollah, you must intervene and the military must come. You have forces and capabilities. It is not right that the one who defeated “Israel” and the Takfiris cannot deal with a few thugs in Baalbek or Hermel or in this city or that village. We’ve always said: No, this is not our responsibility, and this is wrong, and it’s not right. This, if it should happen, will happen when there is no longer a state. But as long as there is a state, the state is responsible for solving this issue. And when the state intervenes and solves it, it can solve it with less repercussions. When the army disagrees with anyone belonging to a tribe or a family, the matter ends the second day because this is an army and a state, not a party, a group, or a certain category that will be dragged into a fight here or there.

Hence, this is how we addressed something more dangerous, which is the security issue. On the issue of smuggling, we do the same thing. If there is anything we can do to help the state agencies, within what is available and allowed for us, we are ready and we have no problem. If anyone has the impression that we adopt smuggling or are happy with smuggling or support smuggling even in Syria, where we have sacrificed blood, he is mistaken and confused, unjust and slanderous. We are not like that. We think later on how to smuggle from Syria to Lebanon; but from Lebanon to Syria, we never thought about this issue at all. This is with regard to the issue of smuggling.

2- The overall situation in the country:

I also talked about the overall situation that we are facing in the country, with the economic issue, the issue of oil derivatives, the issue of medicine, the issue of foodstuffs, the rise in the rate of the dollar, unemployment, etc.

I want to pick up on a point I spoke about previously – I mentioned this in internal meetings, but I would like to clarify it. Sometimes, we see what’s happening [in the country] as an internal problem – a minister, a president, wrong policies, corruption, thieves, lack of responsibility, a power vacuum, greedy people, and so on. This is an internal problem, and therefore, we have an electricity problem, a fuel problem, a gasoline problem, a medicine problem, a food problem, a subsidy problem, lifting subsidies, and the likes. But in other times, it's not just like that.

The second important thing, which comes in the first place is we must see what is happening as part of a state of war. This is a war. This is a front. It’s called the economic front, the economic front to bring the Lebanese people to their knees, to humiliate the Lebanese people, to subjugate the Lebanese people, foremost of which is the resistance. But not only the resistance; there are people who have a misconception about the resistance. Does this mean that only the resistance in Lebanon want to get its full right in the economic zone and the demarcation of the maritime borders with occupied Palestine? Only the resistance or only Hezbollah, for example? Is the resistance the only one that wants us to take our full right to Lebanon's oil and gas that is in Lebanese waters? Only resistance?

This is part of subjugation. This affects Hezbollah and others. It affects the resistance parties and all the patriots in this country whether they are parties, movements, figures, and other leaders. All these are required to submit, bow down, and surrender. American wants to subjugate Lebanon. It wants to humiliate Lebanon. The Lebanese must comply with the dictations of the US State Department and its beldam representative and ambassador in Lebanon. They must agree with the appointments, policies, formations, border demarcation, how to deal with resistance and how to submit to “Israel”.

After all, Lebanon was part of the front and the axis that defeated the American project in more than one version, in the 1982 version, in the 2000 version, in the 2006 version, in the 2011 version. These are versions of the American projects. Lebanon, especially the resistance in Lebanon and everyone who supported this path in Lebanon, was part of causing these American projects to fail. If you do not want to pay the price, they will make you pay the price.

That is the Americans waged a war. This war began a while ago, but if we have to set a date, it would be prior to October 2019, when they started establishing civil society associations and NGOs and financing them, giving them money, launching social networking sites, and drawing in young men and women. For your information, these NGOs are managed by the US embassy in Awkar. In the past, the embassy used to contact the heads of the parties. Now, no. Now, these 20 or 100 NGOs, or civil societies as they call themselves, are in direct contact with the American embassy, without mediation from certain political leaders, and they take money directly from the embassy. The game began in October, and the goal, as they thought, was to change the political majority at that time. They wanted the government to fall. They wanted the parliament to fall. They wanted the President to resign. They wanted early parliamentary elections. They wanted a government with exceptional powers to impose a new president, a new government, and a new parliament. We talked about this a lot, and this failed because there are people who took a stand and faced it. Of course, although the government at that time was able to survive and withstand, but our information confirms that the Americans were the ones who pressured the prime minister at the time and forced him to resign because they were the ones running the project since October 2019.

They were following up before and after October 2019. They told many of their people to take their money and dollars out of Lebanon. Was this a coincidence, or was someone managing, giving instructions, and asked these people to take out their money? The banks also took out their money, and we started entering the crisis little by little, reaching to this situation today. 

Therefore, brothers and sisters, what is happening is a war. We are facing two problems as I have said earlier. There is a real economic and financial war. That is why today there are people who recently promised but did not fulfill their promise. Others withdrew their deposits from Lebanon. who asked them to do so? I tell you it is the Americans. They prevented anyone from depositing money, providing aid, investing in Lebanon. If Lebanon wants to accept Chinese, Russian, eastern, Iranian investments, it is forbidden. It is forbidden to take from Iran. What does this mean? This is a war.

This is not a coincidence. Nothing happens by chance. Everything taking place is designed to drag people into a state of collapse, a state of extreme anger, a state of disbelief in everything, a state of abandoning everything, as they did with many Arab and Islamic people. So far, they have not been able to ignite a civil war, but this is still their goal and are working on it.

They could not ignite a civil war. Let us starve you then. For the sake of fuel, diesel, medicine, and a loaf of bread, we will not only let you give up your sovereignty, dignity, oil, gas, borders, waters, but we will also make you disbelieve in the God that you worship. This is how the Americans think and did to many peoples in the world.

When we approach the subject with this understanding and this background, our approach will certainly be different. As we said, we have to be patient and look for alternatives. We have to find solutions and face this seriously. But when we understand that the issue is not only an internal problem, but rather a war and targeting, this must motivate us and give us energy for more patience, greater readiness for confrontation, greater courage, greater endurance and wisdom, greater awareness, and more insight because, otherwise, we would be achieving the enemy's goal, which is to collapse and surrender.

We talk about a state of collapse in the country, but with the resistance, there is no state of collapse – this is so people do not get confused. The resistance is coherent, strong, stable, and solid. No one should miscalculate, not the Americans nor the “Israelis”, nor anyone. What happened a few days ago confirms this.

3- Afghanistan

Of course, today's event in Afghanistan are overwhelming internationally and inside the United States. The situation in the US is similar to that in Lebanon – chaotic. The Republicans are accusing the Democrats and holding Biden responsible. They describe the scene as humiliation for America, weakness, failure, a historical defeat, shame, an embarrassment, you name it.

Likewise, the positions of major countries in Europe. Some European heads of state speak with very high negativity in assessing the scene in Afghanistan.

Of course, the scene is multidimensional and full of lessons. All of us should reflect on it – this does not end in one or two speeches because it is continuous. It should not only be experts – there are many strategists in this time! The people of the region should be the ones who have to read this event and discover its strategic and historical implications. What is happening now in Afghanistan is a great and very big lesson.

The images you’ve seen on television speak for themselves, and today all the media outlets in the world, not just American channels, are covering this. This also applies to social media. The Americans opened access to the Internet to ignite color revolutions in several countries. But the biter gets bit. Today in the US, if the Biden administration prevented some media outlets or newspaper from reporting about this, would it be able to prevent millions, tens of millions, on social media downloading pictures and the same scenes?
It just happened that people in Vietnam’s Saigon went up the stairs to catch helicopters, while people in Kabul airport went up the stairs to catch the plane. Strange, a duplicate version! Is this a coincidence?

In any case, Afghanistan fell into the hands of the movement that America fought for 20 years and expelled. Then, it just handed the country over to it.

They took their people out of the airport. Today, Biden is defending himself. He rushed to withdraw while the Americans are still there. You say there are 300,000 or 400,000 Afghan forces, including army and police, and that you were trying to reach a settlement between the Afghan government and the Taliban for a transitional government and a partnership government, why didn’t you withdraw then with your dignity? Why didn't you do this? Because they can't stay.

Frankly, it is not out of generosity they left. Listen to Biden, you do not need to listen to me. Listen to Biden, listen to the Secretary of State, and listen to the National Security Adviser because they have to explain to the American people – they are not explaining to the people in the world – they are explaining to the American people who are shocked with these humiliating scenes of defeat and failure.

While they explain to them, you can deduce from their explanation – I will not convey to you and turn into a news bulletin, but I hope that you read carefully what Biden said today and in the past days and what the Americans are talking about. Give it some time because these events are related to understanding the historical and strategic implications of the American defeat and failure and the failure of NATO in Afghanistan. And there is something that has to do with us as the people of a region, as it gives us a lesson that we can benefit from for our present and future. I will stop at two points that Biden spoke about: 

1- What did he say? He said, ‘We spent more than a trillion dollars,’ i.e., a thousand billion dollars. They spent a thousand billion dollars on Afghanistan." They came out of Afghanistan empty-handed with a hidden longing, as the saying goes. They left humiliated, defeated, and failures. What a shame! What a shame it is for their media and the Western media. What does this prove? It is evidence of failure, defeat, inability, ignorance, and lack of mind. Biden says, we were not surprised by the fact that the Afghan government and the Afghan forces did not fight, did not stand, and collapsed so quickly.
The same words were echoed by the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Adviser, and the Secretary of State. This is an indication of what? To the people who believe that America is a deity and knows everything, studies everything, estimates, and has research centers and has great plans, this proves that America is ignorant when it comes to understanding the region. Many decades have passed, and they repeat the same mistakes, the same failed experiments, and the same failed bets. This is also another lesson.

He [Biden] is blaming the Afghan forces for not fighting. You did not leave these Afghan forces an air force because you control it, even though you say you spent a trillion dollars on these Afghan forces that were run by your generals and made failed plans. What type of plans? What kind of consultations did you have with them?

2- What was Biden’s purpose from this statement? He had a slip of the tongue while he was defending himself. He wanted a civil war; he wanted the Afghan forces to fight with the Taliban, to fight hundreds of thousands, while he sits and watch chaos in Afghanistan. If he had an ounce of humanity in him and was keen on his people, as he claims, he should have worked on a truce and settlement before his withdrawal from Afghanistan. This is a moral failure for the American administration. Senior politicians and commentators in America and elsewhere are talking about this moral failure today. That is why Biden came out today to say we wanted to reach a political solution, but Afghan President Ashraf Ghani did not accept.

Look, he [Biden] held him responsible. Do not blame me. While I was listening to him, I remembered the Qur’an when it tells us about Satan – {Do not blame me, but blame yourselves.} No one blames me, I am Satan, blame yourselves.

It is true that you obeyed the Americans, listened to them, and bet on them. They reached a point where they told you, ‘bye bye, bye bye.’ What is happening at Kabul Airport is startling. It is sad because, in the end, these are human beings. We all saw the departing plane and dozens of people surrounding it. The pilot did not care and did not stop the plane. He might have run them over. He saw that there were people clinging onto the plane and still flew. Whether they throw themselves or not, it is not his business.

Look at these Americans – this is shown in the media, I am not bringing anything from me. They brought police dogs and did not transport the Afghans who cooperated with them. They brought equipment that cost money, and they did not transport people. They are human beings. They have rights. Despite the preoccupation with important issues in Lebanon, I hope that you will follow everything that is happening in Afghanistan because it is a pivotal event, and this has not happened in over 50 or 60 years. It will have major repercussions on international politics, international relations, international alliances. The “Israelis” are among those watching it very closely and commenting.

This is a message to all of America’s allies in the region. When Biden is defending himself and says a very important phrase, I hope America’s friends in Lebanon and the region read it well. He says it is not the duty of American forces to fight on behalf of anyone.

If someone is waiting for the Americans to fight on their behalf, listen to what Biden is saying. In order not to fight on behalf of anyone, he accepted a historic and humiliating defeat in Afghanistan. Lebanon and other countries are not important to him. So, there is a very great lesson to be learned from this. We have to take advantage of it and use it when building culture, thoughts, feelings, emotions, choices, bets, readings, alliances, and infrastructure in the economic, political, military, and security fields.

This is what I ended [my speech] last night – with reliance on God and one’s self. We should not wait for the Americans, for their training, their advice, their support, their false promises, their plots, as well as the good and the bad things. Of course, nothing good will come from them. The good comes from our people; it is in our nation, in our region, in the peoples of our nation. This is what we must bet on, and we possess this ability. 

I am done with the follow up on my previous points.

God willing, our last meeting will be on tomorrow night, the eve of the tenth day of Muharram, the night of the last meeting and the great farewell.

Peace be upon you, my master, O Abu Abdullah. Peace be upon Ali Ibn Al-Hussein, the children of Al-Hussain, and the companions of Al-Hussain, and God’s mercy and blessings.