Hezbollah marks second anniversary of Sayyed Nasrallah’s martyrdom with vows of continued resistance

TEHRAN — The southern suburbs of Beirut transformed into a sprawling sea of black and yellow on Sunday. Tens of thousands of mourners converged on the shrine of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to mark two years since his assassination in an Israeli airstrike. Crowds filled the streets surrounding the site in Bir al-Abed near the old airport road. Their chants of loyalty rose above the din of a city still bearing the physical scars of the U.S.-backed Israeli bombing campaign.

Many attendees carried portraits of Sayyed Nasrallah and his successor, Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, who was martyred in an Israeli strike mere days after his mentor. Gathering in a neighborhood that Israeli warplanes systematically reduced to rubble was a deliberate statement of defiance. Mourners traveled from southern villages still under the threat of occupation. Faithful to the pledge Addressing the massive gathering in a televised broadcast, Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Sheikh Qassem delivered an uncompromising defense of the resistance.

His speech served as both a tribute to the fallen commanders and a blunt indictment of Lebanon’s political establishment. Sheikh Qassem spoke directly to the martyred leaders. He told Sayyed Nasrallah that while his physical body had departed, his teachings remain the driving force of the movement. “You are the resistance and the resistance is you, and you have become its symbol for the free people of the world,” Sheikh Qassem declared.

He praised Sayyed Safieddine as an indispensable pillar of the jihadist journey who never tired in his service to the cause. The organizing theme of the memorial was “Inna Ala al-Ahd” (We remain faithful to the pledge). Sheikh Qassem defined this phrase as absolute operational continuity. When leaders are martyred, new commanders immediately step forward to maintain the exact same trajectory, the Resistance leader explained. The pledge guarantees the continuation of the courageous, divine resistance against foreign aggression until every inch of occupied land is fully liberated.

The battlefield ledger Sheikh Qassem then pivoted to the military realities on the ground, systematically dismantling the arguments of domestic opponents who question the utility of Hezbollah’s arms. He turned the scrutiny back on the government. “Some, especially among our opponents, ask: what has the Resistance done?” he noted. “But it seems they forgot to ask: what has the state done?” Hezbollah halted the Israeli aggression project, the Hezbollah leader explained.

Sheikh Qassem stated that the Israeli military deployed up to 90,000 soldiers and officers, backed by unlimited American capabilities, yet utterly failed to break the resistance. Israeli forces were physically prevented from establishing permanent occupation zones or settlements in Lebanon, he explained. Fighters delivered legendary performances across the southern front. Sheikh Qassem listed the battlegrounds where Hezbollah forces entrenched themselves and bled the advancing brigades.

They held their ground in Bint Jbeil, Khiam, Aita al-Shaab, Naqoura, and al-Bayyada. At the Ali al-Taher ridge, resistance units maintained their defensive posture under heavy bombardment for three consecutive months, Sheikh Qassem stated. He honored the 3,400 martyrs and 14,600 wounded from Operation People of Might. Sheikh Qassem directed special recognition to the survivors of the pager terror attacks, calling them living martyrs who transformed their wounds into active resistance.

Domestic betrayal and the disarmament illusion The sharpest political warnings targeted Lebanon’s governing authority. Sheikh Qassem accused the state of acting as “an accessory” to the Israeli-American project by offering unforced concessions. He argued that the current framework agreement handed Israel all of Lebanon’s negotiating leverage in a single session. Pointing to seven rounds of direct negotiations that yielded results “below zero,” he demanded an immediate freeze on direct talks.

The secretary-general ridiculed the persistent demands for Hezbollah to surrender its weapons. “You stayed two years trying to strip the weapons and you could not, so why do you ask the Lebanese Army?” he asked. Asking the national army to serve as a disarmament tool for political factions is a delusion, the Resistance leader said. Sheikh Qassem affirmed that Hezbollah will never forfeit a single inch of Lebanon’s 10,452 square kilometers.

Turning to the collapse of the Lebanese state, he asked where the government was regarding the ruined economy, hyperinflation, electricity blackouts, and stolen depositor funds. Sheikh Qassem announced that Hezbollah, utilizing its own resources and donor funding, will shortly unveil a comprehensive housing and reconstruction project for displaced citizens, stepping in where the state has completely vanished. Concluding his address, Sheikh Qassem reaffirmed that Palestine remains the absolute compass for the resistance.

He saluted the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Leader of the Islamic Revolution for their steadfast backing. Pointing to Israel’s isolation at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, he noted that the regime has become an exposed global pariah.