Hezbollah Chief Lauds Role of Imam Musa Sadr in Founding Resistance against Israel
Speaking in a televised speech broadcast live from the Lebanese capital city of Beirut on Monday evening, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah said Imam Musa Sadr would always underscore the importance of armed resistance as well as the significance of Al-Quds and its relation to the dignity of Muslims and Christians.
He said Sadr considered learning how to use weapons as a religious duty like learning how to say daily prayers.
Defending oneself and one’s dignity is part of one’s identity and character and needs no permission from the government, Sadr would say, according to Nasrallah.
Imam Musa Sadr was the founder of Lebanon’s Amal movement and contributed to the foundation of Hezbollah.
He and his two companions Mohammed Yaqoub and Abbas Badreddin were kidnapped in August 1978 during an official visit to the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
Sadr was scheduled to meet with officials from the government of the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
The three were never seen or heard from again and their fate is still unknown even after the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime in 2011.
Sadr came from a long line of clerics tracing their ancestry back to Jabal Amel, Lebanon.
He is still regarded as an important political and spiritual leader by the Shia Lebanese community. His status only grew after his disappearance in August 1978, and today his legacy is revered by both Amal and Hezbollah followers.
The Amal Party remains an important Shia organization in Lebanon.
In his Monday speech, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah also condemned calls by some political parties for the disarmament of the movement in the run-up to next week’s parliamentary elections, saying the demand comes amid those parties' utter disregard for the worsening economic crisis in the country.
“I want the entire Lebanese nation to know that those who are calling for the disarmament of the resistance are unaware of what the southerners went through since 1948,” he said.
“Some political forces have unfortunately turned Hezbollah's disarmament into the main topic of their electoral campaigns,” Nasrallah said, stressing that the parties that are “pushing for the handover of Hezbollah’s weapons want to sell Lebanon to US and make it susceptible in face of Israel.”
“Those who are calling for Hezbollah’s disarmament disregard its achievements as to liberation of the occupied Lebanese territories and freedom of prisoners” from Israeli detention centers, Nasrallah said.
“Does Israel dare bomb any area in Lebanon today?” Nasrallah asked, attributing the deterrence to the presence of Hezbollah forces.
“We respect the army. It has a national creed as well as competent officers and soldiers. The Lebanese army, however, cannot shoulder the responsibility on its own at the moment, and cannot confront the Israeli enemy alone,” the Hezbollah leader said.
