In a speech at the commissioning ceremony for students at the Al-Afaq Institutes in Beqaa, Hezbollah's Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naeem Qassem stated: "Without the resistance, would there have been a deterrent balance with the Israeli enemy? Could we have avoided assassinations, continuous bombardment, and aggressive actions against Lebanon? This resistance has deterred it from 2006 to now (2022), otherwise Israel would have turned Lebanon into Israeli settlements. Now, what has deterred Israel are the resistance forces in Lebanon and Palestine, which have confined Israel in a bottleneck whose end it does not know. Without the trinity of the army, the people, and the resistance, Lebanese land would not have been liberated from Israeli occupation, and Lebanon would not have been able to rest from the danger of takfiris like ISIS and others."
He added, "If it weren't for the complementarity of Lebanese state demands regarding maritime, oil, and gas rights with the power of the resistance, we wouldn't have been able to obtain our territorial waters, oil, and gas. All of this is thanks to the trinity of the army, the people, and the resistance. Without the sacrifices of the fighters and the people's support around them, Lebanon would have become a farm for embassy orders. We represent our people, and there are other representatives in the parliament who cannot accept imposed orders for Lebanon's future. There is no room for a provocative person or a person made by embassies to reach the presidency. In the parliament, there are aware and sincere deputies to their public who will stand watch against this chaos in Lebanon. We call for consensus as much as possible to bring about a president capable of managing this phase; this is the most suitable solution. The displays that speak of hopes and challenges are useless. Who are you challenging? You are challenging the people, you are challenging those who have endured and those who have not submitted to anyone in the world, and therefore will not submit to your embassies and their orders."
Qassem continued, "Here a question arises: Is it possible to reform the situation in this country? Yes, reform is possible. Is there a difficulty? Yes, but we can if we try to identify the real problems and begin to address them. The first major problem is corruption, and addressing corruption begins with accountability, which requires an impartial judiciary. The judiciary in Lebanon needs a complete overhaul to be able to stand on its feet away from political orders, in order to administer justice, otherwise, if it remains in this state, corruption will spread more and become more complex in our lives in Lebanon."
He added, "The second problem in Lebanon is the United States, which tries to dominate and dictate choices. I want to remind you of October 2019 when protests began in Beirut, and at that time President Mikati’s government completed a rescue project within days because it had been studied months before, but it was accomplished in the last three or four days. We were surprised that the Americans pressured President Saad Hariri and told him he had to resign. We tried to convince him, but he did not agree, and he resigned. Since then, all negative positions in the country have contributed to further collapse. It is not enough to say 'no,' nor is it enough to reject or to say that I do not want the parliament and want to bring forward the parliamentary elections, which has not happened. Now we are in front of an elected parliament, whether you liked it or not, this is popular representation. If we draw a map of the parliament, we will find it necessary to reach an agreement, but America wants to impose its conditions. The time when America imposed something on Lebanon is over. As it has been disappointed time and again by its followers and the embassy’s followers, it will be disappointed again because our Lebanese people, after tasting dignity, liberation, and resistance, through the trinity of the army, the people, and the resistance, cannot accept any orders from America."
