Following are excerpts from a speech delivered by Hizbullah Secretery-General Hassan Nasrallah in commemoration of Resistance Day, aired on Al-Manar TV on May 25, 2006:

Hassan Nasrallah: The enemy [of the Islamic nation] - especially in the eighties, nineties, and the beginning of this century, has begun to feel clearly that its hegemony and domination in the region is in danger.

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Therefore, since the early eighties, after the fall of the Shah's regime, it began to amass its fleets and armies in our region. It is very simple. If you study the map of the deployment of the American fleets and bases before the fall of the Shah in 1979, as well as after 1979, and especially after the collapse of the Socialist bloc, you will find that most of the American fleets had been deployed in our region - from the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean, from the Red Sea to right here next to us... Where is that sea? Over there... To the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, they have bases on land - in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan... In all the "stan" countries... In Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iraq, the Gulf countries, and North Africa...

But I ask you: Have all these fleets, bases, and armies managed to you’re your hearts tremble and your determination quiver? Have the determination, strength, and power of our peoples throughout the Arab and Islamic world quivered? Absolutely not. Those whose hearts quiver are the cowards, who are weak in spirit and mind. All those who believe that Allah is greater than America and all the tyrants of the world - their hearts cannot quiver and their sentiments cannot waver.

They have brought their fleets and bases in order to gain direct rule and control. They want to stop ruling by proxy. They want to have direct rule, through their ambassadors, generals, and through their embassies, which are backed by the Marines and the army. I don't know if they are planning to build such a base somewhere in Lebanon. Naturally, you and I advise them not to do so, right?

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We prefer death, martyrdom, and the graveyards of martyrs than to enjoy the guarantees and protection of America and Israel.