Qassem to Hezbollah scouts: With you, we will prevail

Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem wrote a letter to the Hezbollah-affiliated Imam Mahdi Scouts after their show of strength Sunday at Beirut’s Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, according to a report by the party’s channel, Al-Manar.

“The Imam al-Mahdi Scouts are the light guiding youth to the highest educational model. With you, we will prevail so that peace will reign — a peace tied to the liberation of land and humankind,” Qassem wrote Thursday, also praising the “creative display” at the sports complex on Sunday.

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Hezbollah's scouts gathering: What's the political message behind it?

“With you, the usurping Israel and the tyrannical America will not defeat us, for our land has been kneaded with the blood of our martyrs so that we may remain, persevere and live in our homeland, Lebanon, as a sovereign, free and independent nation,” he added.

“With you, Palestine and Jerusalem will remain the path of truth and our compass for the good of the region and humanity,” Qassem concluded.

Sunday’s event, titled “Generations of the Sayyed,” was organized to commemorate the assassination of former Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, killed in massive Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sept. 27, 2024, as well as the 40th anniversary of the association’s founding. The gathering reportedly brought together between 40,000 and 75,000 people, according to various sources.

Hezbollah spokesman Youssef Zein said there was “no political message” behind the gathering and that “the only goal was to express loyalty to Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.” He added that it was “the first time that scout members from different regions across Lebanon gathered in the same place to attend an event.”