January 28, 2025
By Nasser Kandil
• Many within the resistance, upon witnessing the return of the masses to the border villages and the imposition of retreat upon the occupying army, felt deeply that this magnificent scene – steeped in dignity, pride, and the power to define equations of victory – lacked one key element: the presence of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. His appearances after such events, where he would clarify, explain, and outline future directions and strategies, were deeply missed.
• Yesterday, the National Media Gathering organised a patriotic event in the courtyard of the shrine of Shimon al-Safa in the village of Shamaa, a site of fierce battles with the occupying forces. It was here that commanders of the Golani Brigade dispatched the Zionist historian Zeev Erlich, hoping to find inscriptions, writings, or artefacts that could be manipulated to falsify history and use it as a pretext to distort geography. The outcome, however, was that Erlich was killed – he arrived upright but left horizontally.
• Among the participants, especially the journalists, there was a palpable sense that this successful and unifying event was missing the distinctive presence of the martyred media leader, Mohammad Afif. He had always been at the heart of every initiative of the National Media Gathering, including a similar event held in Naqoura, just hundreds of meters from Shamaa, to defend Lebanon’s oil rights.
• During this recent event, journalists paid tribute to the memory of the late leader Mohammad Afif, recalling his words during a resistance maneuver in the south two years ago. He had said to them: “Walk gently upon this soil, for every inch holds the body of a martyr”. The poignancy of these words resonated deeply yesterday in Shamaa, where participants were informed by locals and youth that two martyrs still lie beneath the soil of the shrine. These martyrs had fought valiantly, destroying tanks and killing officers and soldiers of the occupying forces before the area was bombarded with all types of munitions – land, sea, and air – leading to the martyrdom of Mohammad Baddah and Dr. Hassan Korani.
• In one of his last appearances in the southern suburbs, Mohammad Afif addressed the southerners, saying: “You will return with your heads held high, towering in pride”. The sight of the south over the past two days revived this lofty vision in the collective memory.
• Great events always summon the memory of great individuals. It was a gathering that profoundly missed the presence of Mohammad Afif.
