Resistance of Israeli occupation will continue unabated

Lebanese and Arab people commemorate these days the 19th anniversary of the liberation of South Lebanon from Israeli occupation. As the Arab people mark this  anniversary, they remember with pride the great sacrifices offered by the Lebanese national resistance men who forced the Israeli occupation  to withdraw from South Lebanon in a humiliating way.

This year’s anniversary coincided with the intensification of the US, Israel and their allies’ attacks against the resistance axis with the aim of weakening this axis, liquidating the Palestine question , perpetuating the Israeli occupation of the Arab territories and making Israel invade the Arab homeland politically, economically and culturally.

The US-Zionist attack targets Syria, as it represents the beating heart of the resistance axis, especially following the failure of the eight year terrorist war in which they exported terrorists from more than eighty countries and supported them logistically and financially through the petro-dollar states to destroy Syria and divide it.

Following their failure, the US and Israel resorted to another kind of terrorism, namely economic terrorism through tightening the economic embargo and the unilateral coercive measures imposed on Syrian people.  Trump’s administration  also adopted  another  notorious decision recognizing the Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan in a flagrant violation to the relevant  UN resolutions.

However, Syrian people have been defying these illegal measures and decisions  through their national solidarity and rallying behind their army and leadership.

 As for the Lebanese national resistance, the US and Israeli occupation authorities have described it as “a strategic threat” to Israel in an attempt to mobilize support and provoke the international community against it.

The United States and the Zionist regime are conspiring against Hezbollah in a bid to weaken popular support for the movement which  has been standing firm in the face of US and Israeli hegemonic schemes for the Middle East region.

Moreover, the US and Israel are working these days to implement the so-called Deal of the Century, which aims, among other things,  to liquidate the Palestine question and wipe out the Palestinian inalienable rights, especially the repatriation right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their indigenous homeland and perpetuate the Israeli occupation of the Arab territories.

The US is working in cooperation of some Gulf states to implement the ill-famed  Deal of the Century through organizing an economic conference in Bahrain next month in support of US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal for “peace” between the Israeli regime and Palestinians with the aim of liquidating the Palestine question and to enabling Israeli companies to invade the Arab homeland.

The US-Zionist schemes also targets Iran through tightening economic sanctions against it, because of its essential role in resisting Israeli occupation and US plans.

May 25 does not only mark the 19th anniversary of the liberation of South Lebanon from 22 years of Israeli occupation and oppression by the Lebanese Resistance, but also the liberation of Lebanese political prisoners from the infamous Khiyam prison. On 23 May 2000, 144 Lebanese prisoners were liberated from Khiyam, 2 days before the complete withdrawal of the occupation forces.

About 3000  Lebanese resistance men stormed Khiyam, the site of infamous torture of Lebanese resistance men , breaking the locks with axes and crowbars. Set up by the Israelis in 1985 on a hill in the village of Khiyam in the South Lebanon Governorate, the Khiyam prison was considered to be one of the most ruthless detention and interrogation centers in the Middle East.

While the Israelis governed the prison, which included 67 cells and more than 20 solitary confinement cells, they used the South Lebanon Army (SLA), an Israeli proxy militia  to execute their orders.

Over 5,000 Lebanese, including 500 women, were imprisoned in Khiyam prison over the years. The  Lebanese citizens who participated in all forms of resistance to the occupation and its proxy forces were tortured brutally inside the notorious prison. The prison after its liberation became a museum and symbol of the torture of the occupiers and the victory of the Lebanese people and their resistance, of their freedom obtained through struggle and years of resistance.

 The victory in South Lebanon and the liberation of Khiyam remains an anniversary of liberation and a promise for future victories over torture, oppression and occupation.

Trump’s notorious decisions and illegal measures would not weaken the resistance axis. Rather, it will strengthen it to press ahead with resistance acts until the liberation of all the occupied Arab territories and the establishment of the Palestinian  state with Jerusalem as its capital.

K.Q.