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Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech posted on the Newsgate YouTube Channel (Lebanon) on June 16, 2020 that Chinese companies are prepared to "bring money to Lebanon" through investment in various infrastructure projects such as a high-speed rail and electric plants. Nasrallah stated that anyone who tries to pit Hizbullah's base against the organization is destined to fail. He elaborated that Hizbullah will not be starved into surrendering its weapons and remarked: "I say to anyone who makes us choose between being killed by guns or by starvation, that we will keep our weapons, we will not starve, and we will kill you. We will kill you. We will kill you." He added that Syria's "allies, who stood by it" will not abandon Syria, despite the "economic war" they are experiencing.
Hassan Nasrallah: "I have definitive information - if I am not certain of something I never say it - that Chinese companies are ready to bring money [into Lebanon], without all the complications we experience in Lebanon. It won't be us bringing money. They will bring money to this country. One project is the high-speed rail form Tripoli to Naqoura - not just from Tripoli to Beirut but all the way to Naqoura. If this happens [sic], it will infuse the country with money and investments, it will create jobs, and will give a boost to the economy, to society, to the living conditions, and so on. Imagine a high-speed train from Tripoli to Naqoura. I am telling you and this is official, that the Chinese companies are ready for this. So go ahead. [Another project is] the building of power plants. The Chinese - we have their specific names and addresses - are ready to come and power electric plants. They will do it in the B.O.T. format. You won't be asked to pay a single penny. There will be understanding with the Lebanese government how this money will be paid back. Furthermore, a few days ago, I enquired about the tunnel that there has been a decision to dig between Beirut to Chtoura in the Beqaa. This project will have a great impact on Lebanon and its economy and society, and it will help people transport from area to area. There are theories about the importance of this tunnel. [I asked:] 'Are you ready?' The Chinese companies are ready to carry out this project, also B.O.T. So go ahead.
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"If anyone is trying to turn the base of the resistance against the resistance fighters he will fail. He will waste a year or two on this, or 100 years. You'd better give up. If you hope that we will starve or let the country starve, then let me tell you: We won't starve and we won't let the country starve. I am certain of what I am saying. If you hope that by starving us you will make us come to you in submission and humiliation, and surrender our country and its security to you - oh Americans - and will fall under the mercy of the Israelis - this is out of the question. Even on the issue of [Hizbullah's] weapons... Some in Lebanon say that even though Hizbullah is not connected to any corruption and is not connected to the economic policies of the past, we are at a point where we cannot have bread unless we surrender our weapons. Weapons in exchange for bread. Weapons in exchange for food.
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"In light of the experience we have had since 1948, we in Lebanon know that it is our weapons that protect our country, our sovereignty, our waters, our oil, our natural gas, our people, our dignity, our security, our women, and our children. I say to anyone who makes us choose between being killed by guns or by starvation that we will keep our weapons, we will not starve, and we will kill you. We will kill you. We will kill you. [Surrendering our weapons] is completely out of the question as far as we are concerned.
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"I would like to say to the Syrian people and to all our brothers in Syria - and to all the people in the region who care about the fate of Syria, that Syria's allies, who stood by it in the military war, the security war, and the political war - and even if they themselves are in tough circumstances - will not give up on Syria in the face of this economy war. They will not allow the fall of Syria in the face of this economic war. I am certain of that. Hizbullah and I are part of the machine that works on this."
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