Description:
Hezbollah’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah comments on the political exploitation and investigation findings of the Port of Beirut Disaster that took place one year ago in Lebanon’s capital.
Source: Spot Shot (YouTube)
Date: August 8, 2021
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Transcript:
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s Secretary General:
And after a year has passed, they (i.e. Lebanese groups leading the anti-Hezbollah campaign in relation to the Beirut Port explosion) found no evidence, proof, or investigation that could lead to this conclusion. They got lost, they were lost for a while; what can they say (in this regard)? They were waiting for the investigations, and they know that the official investigation by the Lebanese Army, the investigation by (Lebanon’s) Information Branch, the French investigation and the FBI investigation, and all the sides that took part and contributed to this investigation, reached a clear conclusion, which is now openly available and documented as well: there were no missiles, no weapons, and no munitions in Warehouse 12, nor anywhere in the entire Port (of Beirut). Nothing. And there was no (military or sabotage) action (from an external state/party). I’m not rushing (to conclusions), the (official Lebanese investigators) are obliged to announce the findings (of their investigation), but they don’t wish to announce (the results), and I’ll get back to this point.
In this case, what could they possibly do, having nothing (in hand) that can lead to (the accusation) of the Resistance and Hezbollah? They came up with a new story regarding the (Ammonium) nitrate. Who brought the nitrate (to Lebanon)? Great! The (Lebanese) judiciary should reveal who brought the nitrate, the ship that brought the nitrate. There are reports that say that (the ship’s intended) destination wasn’t Beirut, but it had an accident and resorted to the Port of Beirut. Its destination wasn’t Beirut to begin with.
So, who brought in the nitrate? Who stored them? Who kept them in (the warehouse)? Who prevented the transportation of these materials and (prevented) their sale? The same story all over again: ‘the one who brought the nitrate is Hezbollah, and Hezbollah is the one who knows about it because they brought it (into Lebanon), Hezbollah stored it in Warehouse 12 and kept it there, and the one who prevented the transportation (of the nitrate) is Hezbollah as well’.
Okay, what evidence do you have dear? What’s the evidence for this vile and atrocious accusation (against Hezbollah)? None, there is nothing. However, they have television stations, newspapers, media outlets, and an electronic army, and they can say whatever they want, and they’re (indeed) trying to frame a (particular) scenario.
Now, I want to answer (this campaign of accusations) in way that is somehow sarcastic. Poor Hezbollah, how saddening! They don’t have tons of weapons, munitions, missiles, and explosives that are manufactured in the best military factories in the world, which meet the (required) standards, poor (Hezbollah), they have nothing. They must bring nitrate and smuggle them into Lebanon, nitrate that is used for agricultural purposes and can also be used for manufacturing explosives, how poor (Hezbollah) is, it has no other choice. Poor Hezbollah, they’ve got no warehouses to transport nitrate to, they’ve got warehouses that can accommodate tens of thousands of missiles, but they do not have warehouses where they can put about 2,000 tons of this nitrate for example, so they had to leave them in the warehouse in the Port (of Beirut). Poor Hezbollah, for six or seven years, they haven’t been able to secure places to transport the nitrate to. Poor Hezbollah, they haven’t got any transportation (means) or trucks, they need to rent trucks, taxis, chauffeurs, or drivers to transport (these materials) directly to the south of Lebanon. Poor Hezbollah…
Could there be anything more ridiculous than this? Anything sillier? Anything more horrible? I’ll leave the judgement to you. If someone wishes to make an accusation, they need to make it a bit logical and make some sense. This is all absurd talk. Yet, it is intended; they know it is ridiculous and absurd, but they follow the method of telling lies upon lies as there are people who are ready to believe them, and this is a part of the battle, part of the open war.
They then developed their claim, they said: no, Hezbollah is not in need, those (stockpiles of nitrate) were brought by Hezbollah and placed in the Port so that they can move them to Syria. (I’ll use the) the same (sarcastic) approach. The poor Syrian regime, it doesn’t have ports, it doesn’t have a port in Latakia, nor in Tartus, it doesn’t have any, so, it is forced to bring them into Beirut, and burden Hezbollah with the process of transportation from Beirut to Syria. Poor Syrian regime, it has got no allies that could provide it, through aircrafts and ships, with weapons, munitions, explosives, and so on…Come on! Could someone sane believe such a thing?
Well, anyway, whatever has been said from one year till this very moment, especially the past few days, is not based on any logic or sense, and it doesn’t have any aim other than distortion, accusation, extortion, insulting, and misleading (people from) the truth. We could’ve done the same, from the first day, while people were still searching for the (bodies of the) martyrs, I could’ve went up on TV and said: The ones who killed your children and led to this (massive) explosion in the country are the ones who support the armed groups in Syria. The ones who need nitrate to manufacture explosives are neither Hezbollah nor the Syrian (government) forces. Rather, the ones who need the nitrate to manufacture explosives are the militants on the outskirts of Arsal, Qalamoun, and Al-Qusayr, and the armed groups in Syria. Certain Lebanese groups supporting (the armed militant groups in Syria) are the ones who brought the nitrate (into Lebanon), and they are known by name, and (these personalities) are present within (various levels of the Lebanese) state and security apparatus.
We could have accused them (from that very day). You have a voice and we have ours, you have (your) television (stations) and we have (ours), you have (your) social media networks and we have ours, you have your outlets and we have ours; and the people of the country would have fought each other with each side accusing the other. However, we didn’t adopt this approach, and even today, I’m only mentioning it as an evidence, you know why? Because we are a people of logic and proof, and because we have honor. Because we have honor. Because we know what if feels like to (have) martyrs, we know what it feels like to be wounded, we know how it feels for people to have their homes demolished, we know how it feels like when people have their livelihoods destroyed, we’ve been aware of this matter for many years.
However, you who are sitting behind television screens, running seminars, you and some politicians, who live with golden spoons in your mouths, how could you possibly understand these emotions? We refused to (engage in trying to) manipulate people’s emotions, the emotions of the families of the martyrs and the wounded, and the people affected (by the port explosion), or to exploit anything whatsoever – no matter how small it be – in such a serious event of this magnitude that affected everyone. This is because we are concerned about the country, the peace of the country, and harmony within the country, we didn’t exploit anything for our political interests, nor have we attacked (others) through the media; even when we were accused, insulted, and (our reputation was) distorted, we didn’t defend ourselves with (counter)attacks; we rather defended ourselves by clarifying (the situation) and by resorting to (the matter to the course of) investigations. We (reasoned with public opinion and) said that there are (findings from the) investigations which are not being made public, (and we questioned) why they are not being made public. This is the difference between you and us.
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