Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem declared that the issue of prisoners held in Israeli occupation jails is a top priority, stressing that their release is an integral part of sovereignty and liberation and that no situation can be stable unless all prisoners are freed and the fate of the missing is revealed.
In a message addressed on Sunday to prisoners and their families, Sheikh Qassem said the suffering of detainees represents the deepest pain in the confrontation with the criminal Zionist enemy, noting that Israeli treatment of prisoners violates the most basic human rights. His Eminence praised the prisoners for their patience and steadfastness, while acknowledging the anguish endured by their families and by resistance fighters over the harm inflicted on detainees.
Sheikh Qassem expressed regret over the lack of adequate action by the Lebanese state, citing insufficient pressure on friendly countries and the absence of the prisoners’ file from the list of national priorities. His Eminence emphasized the need for broader official and popular mobilization, alongside international pressure, to secure the release of Lebanese prisoners from Israeli prisons.
Hezbollah’s Sheikh Qassem further called on the Lebanese state, as the authority responsible for its citizens, to exert pressure through all available means and to work seriously with the countries sponsoring the ceasefire agreement to ensure the prisoners’ release.
Addressing the prisoners and their families directly, Sheikh Qassem said, “We will not abandon you. We will work with all our capabilities to secure your freedom, and our hope in God Almighty remains great. The resistance is confronting an Israeli enemy devoid of the most basic values of humanity, backed by the United States through tyranny and inhumane doctrines, with the support of an unjust West, yet we are a people who do not leave our prisoners behind.”
Sheikh Qassem concluded by describing captivity as a badge of honor in the path of jihad, affirming a pledge that the prisoners’ freedom will serve as a compass and a measure of liberation. His Eminence voiced deep respect for the families of detainees for bearing the burden of captivity and expressed appreciation for all forces and figures supporting the prisoners’ cause, underscoring that resistance remains the chosen path—marked by sacrifice, wounds, captivity, and martyrdom—as steps toward victory, dignity, and the defense of the homeland.
Source: Al-Manar Website