Admin I Sunday, Sept 28, 2025
BEIRUT – The Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sheikh Naim Qassem, delivered a fiery, highly defiant speech on Friday, September 27, marking the first anniversary of the deaths of the group’s former leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and senior deputy, Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, along with other commanders.
Qassem, who succeeded Nasrallah following his assassination last year, framed the conflict with Israel and its allies as a “world war” aimed at eliminating the Shi’ite militant group to pave the way for a “Greater Israel” across the region.
The address was a forceful declaration that the deaths of the top leadership had not weakened the organization, but instead solidified its resolve.
“My master (Sayyed Nasrallah), your departure is grievous, but your light is shining,” Qassem stated. “You planted Palestine in our hearts and the planting ripened into a firm, proud resistance.”
He boasted of Hezbollah’s resilience in the face of widespread attacks last year—which included the highly publicized synchronized pager and wireless communications strikes and the subsequent assassinations of key figures.
Qassem claimed these strikes would have toppled the army of any state, but Hezbollah “regained the initiative” and is now “ready for any defense in facing the Israeli enemy.”
The most direct threat in the speech came in response to perceived Western and Israeli demands for the group’s disarmament. Qassem explicitly referenced reported comments by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, saying they “say clearly that Washington wants to disarm Hezbollah and that it will not arm the [Lebanese] army to face Israel.”
Qassem issued a clear warning to both the Lebanese government and the international community: “We will not allow the disarming and we will carry out a Karbala-like confrontation.”
The term “Karbala-like confrontation” refers to the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD, a central event in Shi’ite Islam symbolizing ultimate sacrifice against overwhelming odds—a powerful invocation of martyrdom and unwavering commitment.
The Hezbollah leader stressed the need for the Lebanese government to prioritize “national sovereignty,” which he said “is realized by preventing Israel from remaining in Lebanon.” This demand reinforces the group’s primary political objective within the fractured Lebanese state.
Qassem also doubled down on the group’s raison d’être, calling the Palestinian cause the “central cause,” and commending the militants in Gaza and Palestine for confronting the “occupation on behalf of the world.”
In an effort to show internal Shi’ite unity, Qassem dismissed any notion of a split, stating, “there is no difference between the Amal Movement and Hezbollah — we are one on the ground.”
The speech concluded with a salute to Hezbollah’s key regional allies—Iran, Yemen, Iraq, and the Popular Mobilization Forces—for their support of Gaza and Palestine, asserting that the land “will expel the zionists and the enemies and will belong only to its people.”
