Translated by Al-Ahed News, Al-Akhbar Newspaper

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah devoted his life since 1982 to building what he called the “Resistance Society”, turning every farmer, shepherd, employee and merchant into a partner in the Resistance.

When “Israeli” drones dropped 83 tons of explosives on the Resistance’s central operations room in Beirut’s southern suburb, the occupation imagined that martyring Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah would inevitably lead to Hezbollah’s collapse.

What “Israeli” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to grasp in that moment of madness and jubilation was that the martyred Sayyed Hassan and his comrades had, over 31 years, transformed Hezbollah from a small band of “God’s madmen” — fighters who once feared being seized in the streets while moving a few rifles from point to point in the South — into an organization capable of enduring what amounted to a world war against it. It did not surrender. It regrouped and, in the “second line” behind the border — which the enemy failed to reach by land — prepared martyrdom units known as “Shurtat Al-Khamis” or the Elite Guard to wage the fiercest battles.

Beyond mourning the martyred Secretary General, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah succeeded in shaping an organization that could fight without its leader, without a clear command chain, wounded and bleeding, its depots destroyed or buried under rubble, and a large part of its fighting force deprived of communication after the “Pager massacre”. Yet it did not retreat. It defended the frontier villages, kept firing missiles, and demonstrated a leadership structure capable of recovery even in the midst of battle — so much so that on Sunday, November 24, 2024, it launched around 300 heavy missiles toward the cities of the occupation entity.

Here begins the story of the martyred leader who infused the fighting spirit into the hearts of all people, not only fighters. Having participated in the eight Shura Councils formed throughout the party’s history, he always insisted that no one could claim exclusive credit for founding Hezbollah — for the movement, in his view, was born in the field, in mosques, and in the funerals of martyrs.

Since 1982 and across four decades, Sayyed Nasrallah dedicated himself to shaping what he called the “Resistance Society”: a society where every farmer, shepherd, employee, and merchant was a partner in resistance. In his sermons, especially his Ashura addresses, he reinforced the conviction that leaving “Imam Hussein’s camp” on a dark night was not an option — that the Karbala-like confrontation and the embrace of martyrdom were the only path.

Sayyed Nasrallah’s vision of war was always clear. In a political lecture during an internal Hezbollah cadre course, he said: “The ‘Israeli’ enemy will not accept the defeat of 2006. It formed the Winograd Commission, studied its failures, and conducted training and maneuvers.” Therefore, he warned, “We estimate that the next war will be fierce. The ‘Israeli’ enemy will invade the South and the entire Western Beqaa, carrying out large-scale landings — larger than those of 2006 — to control wide areas and cut off the Resistance’s supply routes”.

On that basis, Sayyed Nasrallah and the martyred Imad Mughniyeh built the organization with the resources available. In the same lecture, Sayyed Nasrallah affirmed: “We must prepare for a major war. We need a large army. And since it is impossible to enlist all Shia youth into military and security work, we must build a mobilized army and train it to fight”.

Thus emerged a decentralized military structure composed of sectors, zones and combat groups unconnected to one another — each fighter knowing his role in direct engagement, even if communication with leadership were severed. Combined with the ideological foundation centered on Sayyed Nasrallah, this structure produced the Resistance’s sharpest weapon: the ideologically committed fighter who, when heavy missiles rained down upon him, made the conscious choice not to flee, but to die advancing toward the front lines.

This was the story of the 2024 war. Under relentless bombardment, the fighters did not abandon their positions. Youths from across Lebanon rushed to the southern front to join the battle — a truth known only to the enemy.

In the village of Mhaibib, Martyr Haidar, wounded in the back by an exploding walkie-talkie, said: “I will not leave my position except as a martyr. You will know of my martyrdom by the fall of Mhaibib”.

From Shaqra came Martyr Mahdi, the only child of his parents, who refused his commander’s plea to stay behind because of his family situation and insisted on going to the front lines in Bint Jbeil.

In Majdal Silm, Resistance fighters reinforced the engagement lines in Aita al-Shaab and Markaba. The village was destroyed over their heads, yet they did not retreat — they even set up missile launchers less than five kilometers from the border and struck the enemy.

In nearby Beit Lif, close to the confrontation lines, Resistance groups gathered to fight in Aita Al-Shaab. In one house in the town, a group lost all communication for days. Despite the siege and repeated air raids, they refused to leave. They attributed their steadfastness to “the Sayyed’s martyrdom” and to the importance of “adhering to the duty”.

In Jouaiya, three members of an engineering unit pledged to “join the frontlines in the villages of Wadi Al-Hujeir at any cost”. They advanced on foot; when drones and warplanes struck them, they slept under trees and abandoned cars along the roads before resuming their route. Eventually, they reached one of the “second-line” villages and received their equipment — explosive devices planted along the enemy’s advance routes — while the enemy failed to reach the village despite the fierce fighting.

News Bulletins from the Front

After a night of continuous raids, all lines of communication with a Resistance group in Beit Lif were cut off. With drones overhead and electronic containment in effect, they could not use their radios, and solar panels were destroyed, cutting power completely.

To learn what was happening, one member of the group would climb to the roof at night and switch on a small battery-powered radio to listen to Al-Noor Radio’s news bulletin. Afterward, he would descend and gather his comrades to recount what he had heard — a kind of daily political session — before they redistributed themselves for guard duty.

Click here to read in Arabic