| Sayyed Fadlullah called on the authority in Lebanon to announce the 14th of August, as the victory day for Lebanon |
The Religious Authority, Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah, issued a statement in which he commented on the "Winograd report" that admitted the Israeli defeat in the July war on Lebanon. He said:
The "Winograd report" has disclosed many issues, taking into consideration the Israeli higher interests as a first priority, and although it admitted the Israeli defeat in the July war on Lebanon, it disregarded crimes and atrocities perpetrated by Israel against the Lebanese people. It also left out secret passages for reasons of national security. Such passages are now in the hands of the Israeli politicians and might disclose many other issues that are not less important than the direct Israeli aggression against Lebanon.
Consequently, we ought to shed light on some points:
Firstly, The official Israeli admission of defeat represents a part of the truth that must be considered by the Arabs and Muslims who should trust their own capabilities that can create a new victory. That is because the basic principles of achieving victory, such as, planning and strengthening the security, military as well as the public fields, to be ready to confront the enemy that is preparing to wage a new war against Lebanon that is rebuilding the internal balance of its military establishment – that the report has admitted its failure – and of the Israelis who started to lose confidence in the capabilities of their army. This fact reveals that a new war might be waged against Lebanon or Syria, or that the Gaza Strip might be invaded, so that the enemy could raise the weakened spirits and force the Arabs to accept the Israeli conditions and offer more concessions, especially concerning the Palestinian cause.
Secondly, through this report, in addition to the given internal political Israeli instability, we notice that we have entered a new stage in which the Israeli parties have started to prepare for a new war to defeat the Arabs and weaken the Resistance. And this calls upon us to prepare for confronting the enemy because we believe that the enemy's electoral as well as the political race might lead to a security race that aims at destroying the entire Arab reality, especially the Lebanese and the Palestinian realities. This race might be represented by planning to instigate more than one internal strife, especially in occupied Palestine where we find that there are those who insist on hindering any serious dialogue with "Hamas"… as well as in Lebanon that, by virtue of the wise people there, was able to overpass more than one attempt for instigating strife, whose last was the consequences of the demonstrations in the southern suburbs.
Thirdly, we call on the Arab regimes that are signing many arm deals for the interests of the countries that are selling them arms or for the interests of the political class that financially benefits from buying them, to reconsider spending this great sum of money, and thus to seek the support of the experiences of the Lebanese Resistance in order to strengthen their internal powers and be able to get out from the sphere of terror that America has plunged them into. Thus, those Arab regimes would be able – at least – to negotiate with Israel on equal footing, if they are still afraid from the word "liberation". We are not saying so in order to advertise for the Resistance since we know that some of the Resistance's experiences are already available to the Arab and Muslim armies. Besides, it is not shameful if the Arabs adopt a Lebanese creativity to develop it or to be developed by it.
Fourthly, we believe that the time in which the enemy's army used to enter the Arab lands that surrounds occupied Palestine, capture the prisoners and win victory over the Arabs, has ended by virtue of the achievements of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon. Therefore, if Israel and its army try to wage any new war against the Arabs, they will face what they have never expected before.
Fifthly, we call on the authority in Lebanon to announce the 14th of August, on which the Israeli aggression on Lebanon was defeated, as the victory day for Lebanon and the whole nation. It should be celebrated as an official Eid, in appreciation of the martyrs' souls especially that of the Resistance's martyrs. In addition, the Resistance should be embraced and the internal ranks should be unified in order to establish a real political reconciliation that is based on confronting the enemy and working on thwarting its plans even in the future.