A handout picture released by the Hezbollah press office on May 13, 2015, shows a Hezbollah fighter aiming his weapon on the Syrian side of the Qalamun hills close to the Lebanese border. Photo: AFP Photo/Hezbollah press office.
By Khaled BarakatĀ –Ā Aug 15, 2025
The following article, by Khaled Barakat, Palestinian writer and member of the Executive Committee of the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, is republished from theĀ original Arabic in Al-Akhbar.
On these same days 19 years ago (August 14, 2006) the cannons fell silent, the rockets ceased, and the roar of Zionist warplanes left Lebanonās skies, after a war that lasted 33 days. The Zionist enemy had launched a full-scale war on āthe Shiāa of Lebanon,ā yet the resistance, under the leadership of Hezbollah, stood firm and shattered the myth of āthe invincible army.ā We all know the rest of the story: the Zionist enemy admitted defeat and failure in its well-known Winograd Report, and the Party began tending to its wounds and rebuilding what the war had destroyed.
Today, patience and principles are once again being tested under a far harsher reality, as the Israeli-American-Saudi offensive against the resistance in Lebanon and the region intensifies. Everything that has taken place confirms this: the enemy camp has not ceased for a single hour preparing for the battle after July 2006, continuing to ready itself for revenge and retaliation.
Let us recall: the Winograd Committee Report described the performance of the army and government of the Zionist entity as āa resounding failure in decision-making and operational management,ā and admitted that the war on Lebanon āended without achieving any of its strategic objectives,ā foremost among them āeliminating Hezbollah or disarming it.ā
The Zionist enemyās former prime minister, Ehud Olmert, faced a major political scandal because of his āinability to prevent rockets from reaching the depths of the entity until the very last day of the war.ā As for the occupation armyās commanders, they admitted that the resistanceās performance had surprised them in terms of readiness, battlefield surprises, and military discipline, acknowledging that āthey had never before faced an organization with such resilience.ā
Returning to today: the realities of the past 22 months ā the ongoing U.S.-Zionist war of extermination in Gaza, the war on Lebanon, the powerful strikes Hezbollah has endured (the pager incident and other severe blows), and the enemyās continuation of assassination and aggression policies ā all confirm that the Zionist enemy and its backers have been preparing for war. Yet even now, they are not convinced that the Party is ādeterred,ā āparalyzed,ā or āweak,ā despite what some deluded voices attempt to portray. More importantly: the Partyās weapons remain the force the enemy most seeks to target and erase, aiming to strip the Lebanese people of their last shield and only sword.
Perhaps the most telling sign of U.S., Western imperialist, and Zionist anxiety about Hezbollahās role and influence came in the ā14th Annual Meeting to Confront Hezbollahā ā literally the name adopted since 2011 for this annual gathering held by the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Department of Justice, and Europol on July 9ā10 of this year. Representatives from more than thirty countries across continents gathered to discuss what they described as the āHezbollah threatā!
At that meeting, they discussed āthe Partyās ability to carry out wide-scale operations without prior warning,ā and expressed concern over the expansion of its popular, political, and financial networks, and the growth of its presence in Africa and Latin America. In short: thirty countries convened just one month ago, not because Hezbollah is weak, paralyzed, or deterred, but because it is strong, alive, and prepared, representing a real threat to their projects in the region, despite the demons of siege, assassinations, and relentless political, media, and psychological warfare on Lebanon, the Party, and its supporters.
This kind of āinternationalā meeting laid the foundation for what we see today in terms of āLebanese decisionsā targeting the resistanceās arms. Yet all of this does not weaken the Party; rather, it grants its weapons and positions even greater legitimacy and exposes the objectives of the subservient forces. Hezbollah remains a national and political necessity for the protection of Lebanon. It refuses to turn into a small āLebanese organizationā destroyed by the senseless wars mastered by murderers and civil war criminals. The mobilization of all these states against the Party in itself refutes the claims of Zionist war criminal Netanyahu about āsubjugating Hezbollahā!
Between July 2006 and August 2025 a new generation has been born and grown up, fighting bravely on the front lines. Much has changed: waters flowed, realities, states, and regimes shifted. What has not changed is the enemyās fixed goal of ācrushing the Partyā and establishing a āNew Middle Eastā, the same slogan and objective raised by the United States back then. Nor has the Partyās steadfast stance changed, despite the many wounds inflicted on its head and body.
More than that: in our region a new revolutionary situation has emerged, one no one could have predicted: the victory of the revolution in Yemen. This reality overturned the tables and the balance of power, particularly in the Gulf region. This force is an essential and open ally of the resistance and the Party, and it is not ādistantā from the battlefield as some imagine, but has become at the very heart of the struggle. It is the only Arab force to have achieved qualitative accomplishments on land and sea, forcing the United States into retreat through sheer power, without making political concessions, and imposing a naval blockade on the enemyās ports. Yemenās role in defending Lebanon and Hezbollah will go further than small-time politicians can imagine.
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Since October 7, 2023, the Party has enjoyed broader Arab and international popular support, especially among youth and students, particularly internationally, and this without any deliberate effort on its part to build such a ānew support base.ā Suffice it to point to the dozens of petitions, statements, and positions issued by forces, organizations, and liberation movements across continents condemning the targeting of Lebanon and the Party.
Hezbollahās banners have been raised at human rights conferences in Europe (I doubt the Party even knows about them), and at music festivals ā as happened recently in London with the famous rapper Mo Chara, member of the Northern Irish rap group āKneecap,ā who was charged with ācommitting a terrorist offenseā after waving Hezbollahās flag amid the cheers of thousands of fans.
Today, as the Zionist enemy continues its war on Gaza for more than 22 months, and as the siege on Lebanon intensifies, a concentrated psychological, political, and media campaign is being waged against āHezbollahās arms.ā It seeks to undermine its image and standing, incite its popular base, and spread doubts about the Partyās reality, priorities, and alliances.
Not every media attack requires a statement, response, or clarification from the Party. The one that protected Lebanon and its jihadi path with the blood of martyrs and the sacrifices of resistance fighters and historic leaders is not in a position to justify itself before mercenaries and paid forces. Yet it is also true that the Party has been more patient and tolerant with these voices than it should have been.
The most important response to attempts to undermine the Party falls upon the shoulders of the popular bloc that supports the resistance in Lebanon and the region ā one that extends beyond the boundaries of the āShiāa sect.ā
It is the duty and the right of these grassroots bases to transform every occasion into an arena of peaceful mass action that expresses popular anger at attempts to drag Lebanon into āaĀ new May 17,ā affirms their adherence to the path of resistance, demands the liberation of Lebanese prisoners from the enemyās prisons, and raises their voice against normalization and surrender. For the popular stance, when driven by awareness and loyalty, remains stronger than any media platform and more eloquent than any speech.
In this context, the masses of the resistance in Lebanon should prepare to commemorate the martyrdom of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, and the Partyās leaders who rose on the road to Jerusalem.
This commemoration, on September 27 and 28, 2025, is not to be confined to a memorial ceremony, but must become a broad popular occasion that renews the demand to support the Palestinian people and their resistance, defend Lebanonās sovereignty and liberate the land, and once again affirm that the resistance, like a strong olive tree, continues to renew its branches even as it grows deeper in roots, resilience, and giving.
Khaled Barakat
Khaled Barakat is a Palestinian writer and a member of the Executive Committee of the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement.
