Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah announced August 28, 2017 as the day of the second victory against Takfiri terrorism, saying this battle was a continuation of the battle against ‘Israel’.

In a televised speech on Monday after the last ISIL terrorists were expelled from the country, Sayyed Nasrallah said ISIL terrorists who left the border region between Lebanon and Syria had no choice, but to submit to resistance fighters.

“August 28, 2017 is the ‘second Liberation Day,’ regardless whether the Lebanese government recognizes it or not. It’s up to the state if it chooses to set another date but we chose this day because it’s the day when no more Takfiri terrorists exist on the Lebanese soil and Hezbollah’s mission had been successfully accomplished,” Sayyed Nasrallah indicated. “It was written with the blood of the Lebanese, Syrian armies, and the Resistance. It will go down in the history of Lebanon and the region.”

“We are before a second victory: the liberation of all the Lebanese territories and the Syrian territories. This is what we call the Great Victory, it is worth calling it as the second liberation day, it is part of the victories in the region,” Sayyed Nasrallah said, adding that the battle against ISIL has achieved its full objectives. The issue is not the liberation of 140 square kilometers of Lebanese territory but rather the liberation of the entire Lebanese soil from terrorists, Hezbollah leader said.

Sayyed Nasrallah described Takfiri terrorism as part of a US-Israeli plot in the region. “ISIL had no choice, but to submit to us, because they had collapsed from within and had to accept our conditions.”

“Today Lebanon has won and the overwhelming majority is happy, except for those who bet on Nusra and ISIL, and the regional and international forces behind them.”

Hezbollah S.G. said the fight against ISIL was a battle and not an act of personal vengeance, praising the Lebanese army soldiers for their successful operation against ISIL. Sayyed Nasrallah also paid condolences to Lebanese servicemen families over the martyrdom of their sons who were kidnapped by ISIL several years ago. “I also salute the families of the martyrs of the Lebanese army, the Syrian army and the resistance.”

Referring to allegations that Hezbollah was blackmailinging the Lebanese army and the state over the kidnapped army soldiers, Sayyed Nasrallah said “It is not Hezbollah that resorts to blackmail over a humanitarian file, those who carried out these claims were either ignorant, with no literacy of the Arabic language, or mean. Those who commented on my previous speech, he said, did not hear my full speech or it reached them taken out of its context.

Since the beginning of the battle, his eminence said, ISIL wanted a ceasefire but the battle continued on both fronts so it collapsed and surrendered in the end. He also emphasized that negotiation was the best way to solve the problem of ISIL’s presence along Syrian border with Lebanon, noting that if they had chosen a military solution, they would not be able to find the location of the servicemen.

Sayyed Nasrallah lashed out at some who were struggling to undermine the victory over Takfiris, saying: after unveiling that the servicemen were martyred, voices went loud that ISIL militants must be tried and killed before going to Syria, those wanted to distort the victory. We have made a deal with them, the other side [ISIL] abided by it and we shall fulfill our promises.

His eminence called for “interrogating those who left the soldiers in ISIL’s hands” instead of pressuring “the side that unveiled their fate.” Those who prevented the Lebanese army on the same day from returning the soldiers and were able to do so from the beginning must be tried, Sayyed Nasrallah went on to say. “The coward, hesitant political decision must be held accountable and all those who didn’t consider Nusra and ISIL as enemies must be held accountable.”

His eminence added that defeating ISIL in various parts of Syria, including in Raqqa, Aleppo and Homs, was instrumental in convincing the terrorist group to leave the Lebanese border with Syria.

“We must not forget that this great victory was achieved through cooperation between Lebanon and Syria,” Sayyed Nasrallah said. He described the current developments as miraculous. “We emerge victorious in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria.”

Sayyed Nasrallah set next Thursday as the day to celebrate this victory in Baalbek city near Ras Al-Ain Park where there’s also a monument where the head of Imam Hussein (AS) was settled when Assabaya procession passed in this area from Karbala. “As in the 2000 victory when the South was liberated from the Israeli occupation, Beqaa residents are the happiest among all the Lebanese now because they suffered the most in the battle against Takfiri terrorism,” Sayyed Nasrallah said.

Hezbollah S.G. called upon all Beqaa residents and other supporters to participate in this ceremony which coincides with the day of Arafa, the day Muslims mark in Hajj and comes before Eid Al-Adha. “At the same time when Muslims will be standing in Arafa, we and those who sacrificed their sons will be standing in Baalbek celebrating this victory. We will be representing the real meaning of Hajj and sacrifice and we’ll be throwing stones on the real Satan and evil.”

“On Thursday we’ll vow: We are the owners of this land, we won’t leave it, and if any terrorist or Takfiri threaten us we will fight them here, and here we shall be martyred, we hold only one passport, the Lebanese one,” Sayyed Nasrallah ended up saying.