Sayyed Nasrallah Declares 2nd Phase of Diesel Initiative, Urges Gov’t to Revisit Lifting Medical Subsidies

By Al-Ahed News

Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivered a televised speech on Friday evening in which he tackled the latest local political developments, mainly announcing the beginning of the second phase of distributing diesel oil to the families for heat in Winter.

At the beginning of his speech, the Resistance leader congratulated all the Lebanese people on the Independence Day that was celebrated a few days ago, and wished that they can preserve their country’s sovereignty and independence, stressing that “There must come a day in which the annually renewable argument about the independence of Lebanon in 1943 would be settled.”

“Preserving the independence, unity and liberty of the country requires a continuous battle,” Sayyed Nasrallah said, noting that it is the responsibility of all the Lebanese people to preserve their independence, even if it is a figurative one, and turn it into a real and true independence.

His Eminence hailed the many Lebanese people who resisted and believed in the different types of resistance until they reached the major victory in 1985 when the occupying forces withdrew from the capital Beirut, Mount Lebanon, Saida, and Rashayya, until the most prominent victory of 2000 when the ‘Israelis’ fled South Lebanon.

However, Sayyed Nasrallah lamented the fact that “When Lebanon is banned from benefiting from its resources, and when the US every day blatantly interferes in the judiciary, politics, security, and future parliamentary elections, then the country’s sovereignty is incomplete.”

As long as Lebanon is within the circle of the continued ‘Israeli’ threats, this means that we are in the middle of the battle for independence and sovereignty; the Hezbollah leader underscored, while also noting that “we’ve triumphed in many phases of this battle and we are quite sure that once we continue this path with determination and steadfastness then more victories are to come.”

“There will come a day when, through cooperation with all the faithful people, we will bring for our nation the unquestionable independence, sovereignty, and freedom.”

Moving to the escalating processes of normalization with the ‘Israeli’ occupation regime, Sayyed Nasrallah lashed out at “the accelerating track of normalization many Arab countries are witnessing, the last of which was the shameful and blatant developments that took place in Morocco.”

As for blacklisting Hezbollah, His Eminence suggested that it might be either tied to the regional developments or the [upcoming] parliamentary elections.

Covid-19 in Lebanon

As he warned that the rise in the Coronavirus cases and virus-related deaths in Lebanon is critical, Sayyed Nasrallah reiterated that since the beginning of the Coronavirus crisis in Lebanon, Hezbollah has announced a plan that it implemented and succeeded in, and declared that the resistance movement decided to activate this plan with a 100% effectiveness.

He then urged the Ministry of Health to exert more efforts no matter what are the difficulties, voicing Hezbollah’s readiness to help in all fields.

Meanwhile, His Eminence made it clear that the political affiliation of the health minister is not an important issue as the country is in danger; adding that “as it happened with the previous one, Hezbollah sets all its capabilities at the disposal of the current Health Ministry.”

Additionally, Sayyed Nasrallah called on the Lebanese Prime Minister and all the concerned parties to revisit the recent decision about lifting the subsidies that were offered for some medicines.

“Lifting the subsidies on some drugs could not be justified by saying that the state doesn’t have enough cash for this; there are thousands who are exposed to the danger of death due to such uncalculated decisions,” His Eminence warned.

Moreover, Sayyed Nasrallah called on canceling certain ministries and budgets given the fact that there are thousands of people whose lives are in danger, and explained that this has nothing to do with political bids.

Lebanese Pound Crisis

In reference to the Lebanese currency’s steep crisis, Sayyed Nasrallah urged brave and daring action against the uncontainable prices of the Lebanese Pound against the US Dollar.

“We shouldn’t remain silent regarding the uncontainable price of the US Dollar and the state can make something, but what we need is a will, a decision, and shouldering the responsibility; the matter requires a brave and daring action,” the Hezbollah leader highlighted.

He then declared that Hezbollah decided to activate it institutions and medical centers to meet as much as possible the people’s need for those drugs.

Lebanese Judiciary

Regarding the judicial inspector, Sayyed Nasrallah remarked: “We found out that the concerned judicial parties are submitting to the politics and what happened in the past two days proves what we’ve been talking about over the past year.”

His Eminence then asked: “Is there today within the Lebanese judiciary a judge who dares to disqualify the judicial judge? There is one judge who tended to do this but was threatened in return.”

The Hezbollah leader noted that “what is taking place right now is that the members of the Lebanese judiciary establishment are defending each other; all data indicate that the judges concerned with the Beirut Port blast are within the circle of suspicions and accusation,” warning that the current judicial track of the Beirut Port blast won’t lead to the truth.

The Tayyouneh Incident

With respect to the Tayyouneh incident, Sayyed Nasrallah announced that the issue has been turned to the military judiciary, which, since the first days, has been subjected to huge pressure from religious and political parties.

“Some of the arrestees have been released and pressures are being made to release the other arrestees,” His Eminence said, blasting the religious and political pressures on the judiciary as insults for the martyrs, the wounded, their families, and the sides they are affiliated with, cautioning further that such pressures “might push the families of the victims to take revenge.”

“Adhering to the current track in the Tayyouneh incident is dangerous and may lead the nation to chaos,” His Eminence added.

Hezbollah’s Diesel Oil Initiative

In reference to the initiative Hezbollah has launched to bring in diesel oil from Iran, the party’s secretary general explained once again the reasons behind this move.

“In front of the lines in which people were humiliated being waiting in front of gas stations, the growth of the black market, and the lack of the material, we announced that once the situation remains the same, we will tend to buy gas and diesel oil from Iran to ease the crisis.”

However, Sayyed Nasrallah underscored that although the material became available and the lines of humiliation vanished, Hezbollah didn’t abandon its promise and tends to ease the suffering of the people, yet it doesn’t seek to replace the oil companies but just to ease the crisis.

As part of the process, Sayyed Nasrallah explained that Hezbollah has to transport dozens of oil cisterns from Baniays to Baalbek, a distance that is equal to 250 kilometers, which if unloaded at the Zahrani or Tripoli refineries would have been way easier.

However, due to the US pressures on the Lebanese government Hezbollah brought the diesel oil via Syria despite the difficulties and repercussions, His Eminence outlined.

While declaring that the first stage of the project started in September and ended in November; Sayyed Nasrallah announced that the second stage will start within days. “Hezbollah directly delivered diesel oil to many municipalities, governmental institutions, hospitals, orphanages, and nursing homes, despite all the difficulties.”

Talking numbers, Sayyed Nasrallah stated that the amount of the donations delivered in the first phase hit near US $2,600,000.

“In a period of two months, Hezbollah offered diesel oil to 80 nursing homes and orphanages, 320 municipalities to operate water wells, 22 governmental hospitals, and 71 firefighting teams from the official Civil Defense service.”

The first phase of the diesel oil initiative costed Hezbollah US $7,750,000, Sayyed Nasrallah said, adding that it has been ended with the aim to start preparing for the second phase.

The Hezbollah leader further admitted that the applied mechanism was somehow slow and complicated, saying this is normal as time is needed to make sure that the subsidized Iranian diesel oil will be handed to those who are worth it and not be used in the black market.

“We paid in the first phase of the diesel initiative ten million US dollars under the title of helping certain categories in Lebanon and easing their suffering,” Sayyed Nasrallah said, stressing that “The same categories that received donations in the first phase will receive the diesel oil in the second phase also.”

His Eminence then explained that all families residing in the villages and cities located at least 500 meters above the sea level are to take advantage from the second phase of the diesel oil initiative.

Sayyed Nasrallah also announced that Hezbollah will sell every diesel oil barrel to the families for one million Lebanese Pounds less than the official rate.

“According to Hezbollah’s statistics, hundreds of thousands of families will benefit from this project,” he also noted.

Meanwhile, the best way to distribute diesel oil will be through the municipalities which will be contacted to identify the numbers of the families they have and the needed amounts, then the Amana Company will deliver diesel oil to the stations selected by the municipalities, according to the mechanism clarified by Sayyed Nasrallah.

Additionally, another diesel oil ship will arrive within days, Sayyed Nasrallah announced, urging to complete the process of communicating with people quietly because the main goal is to ease their suffering.

While a big share of the required amount has been transferred to the Lebanese territories, there is another part which is being transferred from Syria.

Defaming Attempts

With respect to the attempts of defaming Hezbollah by faking documents that are allegedly referred to the resistance movement, Sayyed Nasrallah mocked those behind such actions as unprofessional and ridiculous.

“In the past weeks and months there has been a major attack targeting Hezbollah; this is not something new, but the new thing is the intensifying of this attack and the alleged documents.”

Sayyed Nasrallah described those fabricating such fake documents as unprofessional and non-Lebanese sides, noting that the content of the documents is very ridiculous.

“We regret that some sides deal with those fake documents with a high level of ridicule, ignorance, and pettiness. Those are operating based on the saying that you lie and lie and lie then people would believe you!” His Eminence added.

Slamming such attempts in a time of unjustness, defamation, and distortion of Hezbollah image, Sayyed Nasrallah advised those who believe such lies to at least examine what they are being told about the resistance movement.

At the end of his speech, Sayyed Nasrallah labeled the act of firing some Lebanese people who work in the Gulf states as and dishonorable, inhumane, and unethical measure.