Resistance must remain strong - Lebanese Hezbollah deputy leader

Text of report in English by Lebanese Hezbollah Al-Manar TV website on 5 August

[Report by Hussein Assi 'Resistance Will Be Spearhead of Lebanon's Strength'."]

Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Shaykh Naim Qasim said that the policy statement "confirms beyond the shadow of a doubt that the logic of the state is not contradictory to that of the Resistance," emphasizing that both logics constitute a whole that can be exploited for the sake of liberation and for Lebanon's sovereignty.

Speaking during a celebration held by the Islamic Religious Education Association in honour of students who had excelled in the official exams, Shaykh Qasim stressed that "the resistance will be the spearhead of Lebanon's strength, and this resistance will work according to what we agree upon regarding the defensive strategy."

"We will not squander Lebanon's strength," his eminence highlighted, noting that the Resistance will be the support of the strong state. "We will bear our full responsibilities and we will not relinquish them for the benefit of the Israeli enemy," Shaykh Qasim added.

"We must remain strong in confronting Israel and reject any weakness position," his eminence said, adding that "we will reject any step that would aim at thwarting our strength and welcome any process that would consolidate it."

"Any force that would yield to confront Israel will receive our support," his eminence vowed, reiterating that the most important was not who has the force and strength but the actual results and fruits of this power.

Shaykh Qasim also hailed Operation Al-Redwan, pointing out that "everyone must rejoice over this victory." He quoted Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah as saying that "the victory is for everybody."

His eminence finally noted that "the primary and fundamental duty of the government after the policy statement was to be concerned" with social and economic issues "and the different problems from which the people are suffering."

Source: Al-Manar Television website, Beirut, in English 5 Aug 08