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In a June 24 speech broadcast by Al-Manar TV, Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah declared that "the budget of Hizbullah, its salaries, its expenses, its food, its drink, its weapons, and its missiles come from the Islamic Republic of Iran" and that "no law will be able to prevent this money from reaching us." Referring to the U.S. law that imposes sanctions on banks that knowingly do business with Hizbullah, Nasrallah said: "As long as Iran has money, we will have money. Can one be more transparent than that? The money allocated for us reaches us directly, not through banks."
Following are excerpts
Hassan Nasrallah: When ISIS attacked, it succeeded within days, I'm sad to say, to take control of the Mosul province, of large parts of the provinces of Al-Anbar, Al-Diyala, and Kirkuk, and of the Saladin province almost in its entirety. Of course, this could not have happened through a purely local ISIS plan, but let's not go there. This was a massive plan. It is connected to the Americans - you know I like to speak openly - it is connected to the Turks, to Saudi Arabia, and the region.
This was a part of a certain vision for Iraq and the region. Then the tables were turned, but that's another issue. ISIS declared a caliphate and threatened Saudi Arabia. That's another issue. But perhaps this is how it started. The situation in Iraq became dire. There was a call to arms and to wage Jihad. The brothers from Iraq called me and said: "Our brothers from Hizbullah, we need urgently - tomorrow morning - a certain number of your cadres and officers"... They specified the number... "We don't need fighters. We have fighters. We need commanders and cadres who will bring their experience, serve as field commanders, engage in training, and help planning, as well as raising the morale."
This may be the first time I say this, but it needs to be said. It won't hurt, and it may help. I received this call between 10 and 11 PM. It was a call for help. I called brother Mustafa Badreddine, who was in charge of these matters. He summoned all the people from their homes. When we talk about the commanders who went that night to Iraq, we are talking about people with families, wives, children, and even grandchildren. At dawn, the required number of Hizbullah Jihadi commanders were ready to go to Baghdad.
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Defending Aleppo is defending the rest of Syria, defending Damascus, as well as Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan, which paid, only a few days ago, part of the price for the mistakes of supporting the armed groups. I saw on TV that the car bombs used by the suicide bombers against the Jordanian soldiers had been given to the armed groups by the Jordanian government. This is repaying a favor with a favor - if it was a favor, to begin with. If the American-Saudi-takfiri plan is given a second chance to make a significant gain in Syria, this will jeopardize all that was achieved in recent years, as well as the region in its entirety. Therefore, we had a duty to be present in Aleppo, and indeed, we were present in Aleppo. We have a duty to remain in Aleppo, and we shall remain in Aleppo.
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Since June 1, Hizbullah has had 26 martyrs, one prisoner, and one MIA. That is the exact tally. We don't usually give figures, but in order to deal with the problem, let's tell it as it is. 26 martyrs, one prisoner, and one MIA. Any other figure - 50, 100, or 200 - is nonsense.
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There are people who dream, and then write about their dreams, believe in them, and build on them. A few weeks ago, we read headlines such as: "Hizbullah is facing financial collapse" or "Hizbullah is facing economic collapse." It sounds as if we are about to die of hunger and need help. Unfortunately, there is such stupidity and ugliness in some of the Lebanese and Arab media.
I said then that even if this law is implemented by the Lebanese banks, and even if they are over-diligent in its implementation, as far as we are concerned - as a political party, as an organizational and Jihadi structure - this law does not change a thing. It does not affect us and does not harm us. True, there is psychological pressure, but it does not affect Hizbullah financially or in a material way. I have explained why, but let me remind those idiots. As I have said, we have no commercial projects, and we have no investment institutions that work with the banks, and which could break us if you abolished them. We have no such thing. Nobody in the world speaks as openly and honestly as me: The budget of Hizbullah, its salaries, its expenses, its food, its drink, its weapons, and its missiles come from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Is that clear? Nobody else has anything to do with this. As long as Iran has money, we will have money. Can one be more transparent than that? The money allocated for us reaches us directly, not through banks. Just as the missiles with which we threaten Israel reached us, our money reaches us. No law will be able to prevent this money from reaching us.
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