Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah announced Thursday that the surveillance drone, which flew over occupied Palestine reaching the southern part, was sent by the Islamic resistance in Lebanon, pointing out that it is of Iranian manufacturing and was put together by Lebanese experts in the Islamic Resistance.

In a statement broadcast on Al-Manar TV, Sayyed Nasrallah adopted this “special operation".

“The resistance in Lebanon sent an advanced surveillance drone from the Lebanese lands towards the sea. It drove it for hundreds of kilometers over the sea, then penetrated the enemy’s new measures, entered south Palestine, and flew over several significant locations, before being spotted by the Israeli air force,” he said.

His eminence considered that “downing this aircraft is a normal and expected issue, but the achievement is that it flew hundreds of kilometers in an area full of radars,” and praised the “mujahedeen brothers”, indicating that “they are the ones who devoted their minds and efforts for the sake of defending their people and nation.”

“We leave it for the Israelis to specify the potentials of this intelligence drone, especially that it was able from the first time to fly over the sea, and we all know what is there in the sea, and over the land, and we all know what is there on the land, and we reveal today a part of our ability; yet this does not diminish our level of surprise,” he added.

As he indicated that “this operation reveals our ability to conceal our potentials and reveal them in the appropriate times,” Sayyed Nasrallah affirmed that “it is our natural right to send surveillance drones anytime we want. This trip is not the first, and it will not be the last, and with these aircrafts we could reach many locations.”

He clarified that “we have named this operation after martyr Hussein Ayoub who was from the first establishers of this weaponry in Hezbollah. We want to name this aircraft Ayoub,” adding that “this work and this ability took a long time to be accomplished. This assures that nothing distracts our basic team from the Israeli enemy, no matter what the regional and local challenges are.”

Nabi Sheeth Weapons Warehouse Explosion

Sayyed Nasrallah considered that “in Lebanon the entire field is a fore front, because it is all a target for the enemy. There is no resistance in the world that puts all its power in the border area, as that would be irrational. It is normal for the defense forces to be distributed around the whole field.”

“Those who spoke about Nabi Sheeth explosion don’t have a problems with the weapons storage, but with the existence of a resistance that fights the Israeli enemy and confronts its project in the region,” his eminence said, adding that “if we store our weapons in a small number of warehouses, the enemy would be able to spot them, bombard, and destroy them… The Israeli recognizes this point and it is sad that it (the Israeli) explains to its people this point while some Lebanese parts are not ready to accept that.”

Hezbollah Not Fighting in Syria

Hezbollah secretary general emphasized that as the resistance was clear since the beginning about its stance from the crisis in Syria, it was also clear that it has not been sending its fighters there.

“Since the beginning of the crisis, some parts in the Syrian opposition started talking about us sending fighters to Syria. This was a lie and still is,” Sayyed Nasrallah stressed wondering: “Where are those martyrs who they say have fallen in Syria? We escort our martyrs to their graves publicly, and we are not ashamed of that.”

“Nothing could be concealed, and we are not hiding anything, as when a martyr falls, we tell his family the whole truth, where, when, and how this dear brother was martyred,” he went on saying.

On “martyr Abu Abbas” and several other martyrs who fell near the Lebanese-Syrian borders, Sayyed Nasrallah explained that “there have been around 30 000 Lebanese families residing in Syria since tens of years. These Lebanese live on Syrian lands and have properties there, yet they hold on to their Lebanese nationality, and they vote in Lebanon and join Lebanese parties including Hezbollah.”

“Since the beginning of the events, they decided to take a neutral stance, but the armed groups there attacked them and threw some of them out of their homes. Some of those families were also killed, kidnapped, displaced, and their houses were burned. A part of them chose to leave, but a bigger part decided to stay, buy weapons, and defend themselves. Therefore, this is not related to fighting on the Syrian regime’s side, but to self-defense,” he added.

In this context, Sayyed Nasrallah assured that everything said in media about Abu Abbas was not true.

“Everyone in Beqaa knows that he was a military official in Beqaa… and he was killed in that region, which is still under bombardment until today,” he reassured, stating that “our political stance is clear, and all the pressure against us did not change our beliefs and thoughts. We see that the situation in Syria is dangerous on Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, and the whole region. What we call for is dialogue, a political solution, and the end of bloodshed. The regime neither needs us nor needs anyone to fight on its side.”

On the Lebanese captives in Syria, Sayyed Nasrallah assured that “fabrications and threats don’t work with us,” and addressed the kidnappers saying: “If you are expecting me to apologize, I will not apologize, and no one accepts that I do. What you are doing is a shame for you... Leave us out of this battle. Don’t threaten us, don't intimidate us, don’t try us, and Salam..."