29/01/2009 Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah held on Thursday a press conference to commemorate the "Freedom Day" (the commemoration of freeing Lebanese and Arab detainees out of the Israeli jails on 29/1/2004). The main part of the conference was devoted to details of the Operation Al-Redwan accomplished last May and in which all detainees in Israeli prisons, including chief of detainees Samir Qintar, were freed.
 
Sayyed Nasrallah started his conference by recalling the swap deal achieved in 2004. "During such days in 2004, the Islamic resistance has achieved the most important swap deal and many of the Resistance fighters were liberated," his eminence said. "At that time, we have made a promise to all those left at Israeli prisons, including Samir Qintar, that we would work hard to liberate them, and this was accomplished through the Operation Al-Redwan," Sayyed Nasrallah emphasized.
 
Before entering into missing details of the above mentioned operation, the Hezbollah Secretary General seized the opportunity to recall the remaining Arab detainees in the Israeli prisons. "This day should be an occasion to remember and express solidarity with our detained brothers," his eminence said, emphasizing that there were still more than 11,000 Palestinian, Jordanian and Syrian detainees who are suffering a lot. "This cause should remain in the conscience of this nation and push it to assume its responsibilities regard this cause as a national one at one side and humanitarian and ethical at the other," his eminence stressed.
 
Sayyed Nasrallah then entered into the details of the Operation al-Redwan, notably regarding the fate of Palestinian martyr Dalal Moghrabi and Lebanese missing Yehya Skaf. "The Israeli claimed that Yehya Skaf has been martyred during Dalal Moghrabi's operation, but we had no evidence for that," Sayyed Nasrallah said. "During the Operation al-Redwan, they provided us with the remains of 4 martyrs they claimed that Dalal's and Yehya's were among them," his eminence added.
 
Moghrabi was martyred in a battle with Israeli occupation forces after her resistance group, including Skaf, blew up a bus they had hijacked on the road between Tel Aviv and Haifa in 1978, killing 36 settlers.

 
He added that during “Operation Al-Redwan”, “we have received those remains and we could clearly specify the rest of the martyrs’ remains, however concerning these remains, the Lebanese Laboratories couldn’t provide us with concluding results thus we had to send the remains’ DNA to the most important Labs in France and few days ago we have got the results which were not helpful,” Sayyed Nasrallah said, explaining that "we were unable to say they were Dalal's or Yehya’s or any of the four other martyrs."
 
"We cannot conclude this issue," Sayyed Nasrallah emphasized, noting that while the question was not a martyrdom one with Dalal, all hypotheses regarding the body of Yehya Skaff were still possible. "Is he a detainee in Israel? Is he alive? Is he a martyr? A martyr whose body is missing or whose body Israel retains?"
 
His eminence stressed that all possibilities were still valid, "Yehya Skaff’s family must resolve this issue through legal means… We, in the Islamic Resistance, don't consider ourselves qualified to handle this issue, so it is up to Skaff’s family to pursue and conclude the matter."
 
Sayyed Nasrallah also held the Zionist entity responsible for the fate of Mohamad Farran (the Lebanese fisherman). "The Israelis deny that Farran has reached their hands, but we don't believe them because his boat reached the Israelis and when it has been returned, blood was on the boat," the Hezbollah Secretary General noted, pointing out that the Farran's family was the side concerned with settling the issue.
 
His eminence concluded the first axis of his press conference by recalling that the Zionist entity was still holding on to the remains of more than 350 Lebanese and Palestinian martyrs. "Around 350 martyrs' remains were still with the Israeli enemy," Sayyed Nasrallah declared, adding that "the issue of returning the remains of our martyrs from Israel remains open."
 
LEB. FORCES KNOWS THE 4 IRANIAN DIPLOMATS’ FATE
Sayyed Nasrallah devoted the second axis of his press conference to the fate of the four Iranian missing diplomats, calling on the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Forces to reveal it. "The Israelis claimed, in their report, that the four Iranian diplomats were kidnapped and executed by the Lebanese Forces and buried," his eminence said, but noted that Hezbollah believes that the mentioned diplomats were still inside the Israeli prisons. "They are only misleading us," Sayyed Nasrallah said.
 
"Everyone knows that the four diplomats were kidnapped by the Lebanese Forces in 1982," Sayyed Nasrallah stressed, wondering whether the mentioned party has afterwards executed the diplomats or handed them over to the Israelis." His eminence called the Lebanese government to reveal the fate of the 4 Iranian diplomats stressing that Hezbollah was ready to cooperate with this issue. "It is a humanitarian and moral issue that we need to reach a conclusion on."
 
The Resistance leader recalled that the four diplomats should have been protected by the Lebanese security apparatus. "It's the authority's duty to reveal their fate," Sayyed Nasrallah said, calling on the LF to assist the concerned sides in disclosing the fate of the four diplomats. "The Lebanese Forces, as part of the Lebanese government today, can give us facts on this issue."
 
ISRAEL INCAPABLE OF ACHIEVING ITS GOALS IN GAZA
The Hezbollah Secretary General then tackled the 22-day Israeli deadliest offensive against Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians, including 420 children and injured thousands others. "The actual goal of the Gaza war was to subjugate and wipe out the Resistance and topple the Hamas government," Sayyed Nasrallah declared, noting that the Zionists did not have any declared goals of their war on Gaza.
 
Indeed, and according to Sayyed Nasrallah, the Zionist entity was incapable of achieving any of its goals in Gaza. "There was an international and Arab US decision to exploit what is left of the Bush period to change the facts. However, Israel has politically and militarily failed and some voices in Israel are saying that the failure of Gaza war is the same as the July War in Lebanon," his eminence pointed out.   
 
Sayyed Nasrallah praised the Palestinian Resistance for its steadfastness, heroism and firmness. His eminence recalled that the Resistance's strength has pushed the Israelis to declare a unilateral ceasefire, although it hasn't achieved any of its goals. "Those who did not recognize the Resistance's victory in Lebanon won't recognize the victory in Palestine for the same political reasons," Sayyed Nasrallah noted.
 
Meanwhile, Hezbollah Secretary General noted that the Israeli war against the Palestinians, which has started even before the latest aggression, was still ongoing. "Gaza blockade continues amid dire humanitarian and economic conditions," his eminence noted, stressing that the war and aggression against Gaza is still going on, but in different forms.
 
"Linking the reconstruction of Gaza to political terms represents an unacceptable and humiliating form of political blackmail," Sayyed Nasrallah stressed. His eminence called on everyone to provide the Gazans with help without asking for return or setting conditions.
 
Hezbollah leader also condemned all “impudent” statements made by some European officials against the Palestinian Resistance. "One of the European officials condemned Hamas and called it a terrorist organization that launches missiles because it kills what he called "Israeli civilians." However, he didn't dare to accuse Israel of committing crimes," Sayyed Nasrallah noted. "This proves to us that the American-European do not even admit that Israel has committed the most barbaric crimes before the whole world."   
 
In his first comments since United States President Barack Obama took office on January 20, the Hezbollah leader said there was no difference between Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush when it comes to Israel, adding that the new U.S. administration had so far shown absolute support for Israel.
 
Answering a question, his eminence reiterated Hezbollah firm position towards Egypt over the Gaza offensive. His eminence re-condemned the Egyptian regime "because it continues to close the Rafah crossing." His eminence accused the mentioned regime of "lying," stressing that the Rafah crossing was not open, “I doubt that this regime is an honest mediator because it works on imposing the conditions of others on the Palestinians.”
 
"My stance against the Egyptians was correct, and I still denounce their ongoing closure of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza," Sayyed Nasrallah said. "The opening of the Rafah crossing is crucial to the Palestinian people, the Resistance and the living conditions there… its closure is one of the biggest crimes in history," his eminence added.
 
ISRAELIS FEAR OUT OUR RESPONSE TO HAJ REDWAN ASSASSINATION
The Lebanese issues were tackled by Sayyed Nasrallah during the questions-and-answers part of the conference. One of the questions was about Hezbollah's solidarity with the Palestinian Resistance during the Gaza offensive. "What we have done during the Gaza war was within the limits of the possible," his eminence declared, adding that the Islamic Resistance will remain ready to defend Lebanon. "We won't leave the circle of the conflict with Israel and we shall stand up to the enemy," the Resistance leader vowed.
 
Asked about Hezbollah's retaliation to the assassination of its top military commander Imad Moghniyyeh (Haj Redwan), Sayyed Nasrallah reiterated that "the day won't come when we'll put the blood vengeance for the martyr Moghniyyeh behind us, it will always be ahead of us," vowing that Hezbollah would avenge the assassination and confirming that the investigation proved that the Israeli Mossad was behind the crime. "The Israelis are living in fear of our revenge. Don’t expect me to say when we will strike or respond to what the Israelis claim had happened." His eminence was referring to reports in Israel claiming that a large-scale attack planned by Hezbollah in Europe had been thwarted.
 
The Hezbollah Secretary General renewed the Resistance's readiness to face any Israeli adventure in Lebanon, saying "No body can say that Lebanon is safe since the Israeli has no problem in inventing pretext for his aggressions." His eminence addressed the Israelis saying "war with us won't be a picnic; it will be costly for you and your army."
 
Concerning the internal issues, Sayyed Nasrallah renewed his party's openness for dialogue, denying that the party considers the discussions useless and already settled, noting that if the defense strategy was settled "we would have suspended our participation in the dialogue table." His eminence, meanwhile, emphasized that Gaza and July wars are supposed to reassure the vision of the defense strategy, renewing Hezbollah call to increase the number of participants in the dialogue roundtable so that it includes all national forces. 
 
Meanwhile, Sayyed Nasrallah warned against using sectarian language in the parliamentary election campaigns. "Using electoral money is more acceptable than using such language," his eminence said. His eminence concluded by revealing that he has sent a friendly reproach to the head of the Future bloc MP Saad Hariri  through mutual friends "because his last speech was not in the line with what we agreed upon in our last meeting."