Following are excerpts from a speech given by Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on March 30, 2006.

Hassan Nasrallah: I say again, in front of you, that no one, either in Lebanon or outside it, will be able to punish the resistance for its accomplishments. Whoever wants to forcefully disarm the resistance - and I have said this more than once - we will chop off his hand, behead him, and get rid of his soul. We are that determined. We are that determined.

As for flexibility - I have said that we are ready to negotiate. Let us talk about the strategic political options. We want to defend our land, to defend our people, to preserve our sovereignty, and our honor. How? Let us discuss that.

Some say that the state should be responsible for that. Great. I accept that this is first of all the responsibility of the state. But when the state neglects its responsibility - is the people supposed to surrender to the enemy, its desires, its massacres, its tyranny, and its arrogance?

I declare in front of you, as you well know, that in Lebanon, the state has never fulfilled its responsibility regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict, or in defending Lebanon, in defending South Lebanon, or in liberating a grain of Lebanese soil, or liberating a single Lebanese prisoner.

[...]

The real option that can bring an end to the American occupation in Iraq is the option of armed resistance. We, as resistance fighters, and from a cultural-ideological perspective, and from a practical perspective, believe in this. Therefore, we declare - and this is not the first time I am being so candid... We publicly declare our support of the Iraqi resistance.