By Anastasia (Fatima) Ezhova*
Lebanon and the Resistance celebrates a new great victory: the least of the Takfiri terrorists have left the territories near the Syrian-Lebanese border, thus freeing the country from their presence, which used to pose a big problem for Lebanon’s security for 6 years. This achievement was so magnificent that Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah compared it with the First Liberation of South Lebanese territories from the 18-year long Zionist occupation, thus calling this new victory the Second Liberation.
Meanwhile, numerous critics have already accused Hezbollah of collaborating with the Takfiri terrorist enemy just because the Resistance has concluded a treaty with Daesh, letting the rest of the terrorists (about 300 militants) leave the Lebanese territory peacefully along with their wives and children; instead of that Daesh has revealed the destiny of Lebanese army soldiers captured in 2014. Unfortunately, all of them were martyred, but all the Lebanese society was eager to find them whether dead or alive.
Maybe some people are just tenuous, but for everybody who reflects over things deeply and thoroughly, two aspects of this case are evident.
First of all, Hezbollah has always followed the Islamic guideline dictating to avoid victims among civilians as much as possible. Even in 80-s, at the time of Zionist occupation and the civil war in Lebanon, when the new-born Islamic Resistance used to practice direct attacks against the enemy’s aims, it never attacked civilians, rather it targeted military and intelligence objects. By the way, it’s a part of AhlulBayt (as) path and authentic Prophetic Shari‘ah: numerous Shia scholars have issued fatwas about the Jihad rulings underlining that torturing and killing non-combatants (women, children, the elderly) is forbidden. That’s why the Resistance has let Daesh terrorists’ families flee away, and in his recent interview with “Russia Today ” Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qasim has definitely explained that avoiding huge massacres of civilians is a Resistance’s common strategy, and it has been trying to implement this strategy not only in Arsal or Qalamoun but also in major Syrian battles at Aleppo, Homs, etc.
Meanwhile, the meaning of this move is even more than just a humanistic act based on Islamic ethics: it is a kind of Hezbollah’s message to some part of Sunnis who have been misguided by the Takfiri virtuosic propaganda about “an ideal Islamic State” and “the struggle for justice” (by the way, we know that many of those who join Takfiri groups wishing to “seek Islamic justice” become disappointed when the true face of the so-called “Caliphate” is revealed, but they find no possibility to return back.). Hardly Hezbollah Leader was referring to ISIS as to some kind of potential ally as this alliance’s not possible due to extreme Shi‘itophobic platform of Takfiris, rather it was a call to large number of Sunnis that the Resistance is ready to demonstrate its mercy and to invite those misguided people to the struggle for Al-Quds rather than with their fellow Muslim brothers.
This is an Islamic humanitarian aspect of the issue.
Secondly, from the military point of view it was Seyyid Nasrallah’s sophisticated and wise strategic decision that allowed the Resistance and Lebanese Army fighters to avoid martyring lots of their own soldiers who used to operate in tough topographic conditions where Takfiries had a possibility to benefit from the landscape (consisting of caves, hills, etc.) and where the Army and the Resistance had no air force cover. So Hezbollah commandment managed to expel Daesh Takfiri terrorists from the location where they enjoyed some advantages into the other location where it is easier for the Resistance to do away with all of them by using the capabilities of the whole coalition, including Hezbollah, Syrian Arab Army, Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards and affiliated Shia militias, and Russian Air Force that help greatly providing an air cover which they cannot afford at the territory of Lebanon. This is what Seyyed Nasrallah has pointed out in his recent message to Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units.
By the way, the Takfiri monster has been nurtured by USA and Zionists, and it’s a part of the great and devastating US-Israeli strategy elaborated against the entire region. That’s why the Resistance views the project of opposing the Takfiri scheme as a long-termed. As one of high-ranked Hezbollah officials, Sheikh Ali Da‘amush, pointed out, the battle against Takfiries can be compared with a long and painstaking struggle against 18-years long Israeli occupation that has ended with the Resistance’s decisive victory. That’s why the Takfiri scheme couldn’t be totally defeated in the exact battle near the Syrian-Lebanese border, but winning that battle became an important milestone in the list of victories as it finally secured and liberated Lebanon from the Takfiri presence (and thus was called the Second Liberation).
*Anastasia (Fatima) Ezhova is a Russian political analyst, writer and journalist. She was born in 1983. After a long journey, Ms. Ezhova converted to Islam in 1999. She graduated from Moscow State University (faculty of philosophy) in 2005. Ezhova is also the editor-in-chief of "The Axis of Resistance" website (www.mihwar.ru) and a member of an editorial board of "Musulmanka" Islamic female magazine.
The views, opinions and positions expressed on Op-Ed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or positions of Khamenei.ir.
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