“We Will Not Compromise. We Will Resist”: Lebanon’s Intellectual and Cultural Front Rallies for National Resistance

Lebanese academics, journalists, artists, and activists held a protest on Tuesday in Beirut’s Riad al-Solh Square to call for a comprehensive national resistance to Israel’s continued aggression on Lebanon.

Around 150 people gather in Riad al-Solh Square to call for a comprehensive national resistance against the ongoing Israeli aggression on Lebanon. Riad al-Solh Square, Beirut. March 31, 2026. (Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source)

The rally was called for after the organizers started a petition titled “The National Call for Comprehensive Resistance in the Face of the Aggression on Lebanon” on March 16, signed by more than 550 people. Among the signatories is the late journalist Fatima Ftouni, killed in a targeted Israeli attack alongside colleagues Ali Shoeib and Mohammad Ftouni on March 28.

Participants and speakers included recently freed former militant Georges Abdallah, MP Elias Jradi, and rapper Jaafar Touffar. Many university professors also took part, notably co-organizer and AUB professor of chemical engineering Dr. Kassem Ghorayeb, LAU media and journalism professor Dr. Jad Melki, and Middle East history professor Dr. Hicham Safieddine.

Former militant Georges Abdallah participates in the rally for a comprehensive national resistance and gives a short speech to the crowd. Riad al-Solh Square, Beirut. March 31, 2026. (Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source)

Abdallah gave a speech to those gathered, warning that the region is under “imperialist Zionist attack,” and that no country in the region is safe from Israel’s destruction: “What has happened in Syria will happen elsewhere, and awaits us all.”

“Lebanon possesses all the elements of steadfastness; its fedayeen possess a strong will and solid understanding of what is necessary for successful resistance. It is high time our parties rise to this level,” Abdallah said to those gathered at the rally. “Let it be clear to all that the fundamental matter at hand is this: if Iran is defeated today, we will all be swept away by history. We must stand on our feet and look toward the future: a comprehensive defeat for all imperialist powers in our world. It is only after that we create a new world.”

At the end of the petition, in a list of 11 points, the organizers highlight Israel’s intention to sow internal discord by playing on historical sectarian divisions, which, the organizers write, necessitates “subjecting the Lebanese state to Israeli security and political demands, transforming it into a guardian of the Zionist entity and its agent for eliminating the resistance.”

Rapper Jaafar Touffar raps in praise of the resistance, condemning the government’s response to Israel’s aggression and denouncing normalization with Israel. Riad al-Solh Square, Beirut. March 31, 2026. (Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source)

The organizers also condemn the government’s approach to Israel’s aggression and its treatment of the resistance, specifically naming the official decision instituting the state monopoly on arms of August of last year, the decision criminalizing Hezbollah’s military activities of March 2, and the state’s failure to defend the residents of the targeted areas which it claims are under its sovereignty.

They point out that this has “legitimized Israeli aggression as a form of counterinsurgency and facilitated the collective punishment of the community supporting the resistance, aiming to force it to abandon the resistance.”

They also condemn the government for willingly dissipating Lebanese sovereignty through its official positions on Israel’s aggression and on the resistance, perversely casting the resistance as an adversary.

A protestor holds up a poster of late journalist Fatima Ftouni, whom Israel targeted and killed on March 28. The poster reads: “We are all Fatima Ftouni.” Riad al-Solh Square, Beirut. March 31, 2026. (Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source)

The organizers argue that true sovereignty is earned through lived experience; through resistance and sacrifice, rather than international recognition or legal formalities: “The resistance’s confrontation of the aggression today is a reaffirmation of the concept of sovereignty as an organic bond between the people and the land, based on historical continuity and collective memory, constantly produced and reproduced through struggle and sacrifice.”

In the statement, the organizers indict the government for its “state of defeatism before the enemy entity, complete subservience to American dictates, and the abdication of sovereign responsibilities,” namely through its hostility toward the resistance, its positioning of the Lebanese army against the resistance, and its direct negotiations with Israel.

The petition lists the following demands:

1. “The President of the Republic must adhere to his oath of office and his previous and subsequent positions regarding the issue of the resistance’s weapons, which he considers a sovereign matter not subject to external dictates, and which can be discussed within the framework of a national defense strategy. The President of the Republic must fulfill his responsibility to defend Lebanon.” The President is also called on to act on comments he made during his time leading the Lebanese army, when he emphasized the necessity of liberating the remaining occupied territories, specifically Shebaa Farms and Kfarshouba Hills, the weight of the Israeli threat to Lebanon, and the right to resistance until liberation. 
2. “Integration between the army and the people who defend their homeland”: “The cohesion and solidarity of the people in the face of external aggression, coordination and integration between the state and the resistance at this stage, and the state's utilization of all its resources to reach a ceasefire agreement, liberate the land, prevent attacks, secure the release of prisoners, and preserve sovereignty.”
3. “Embrace and support displaced persons” as it is “a national duty incumbent first and foremost upon the state, and then upon all of society, particularly its political and civil forces, including civil, educational, and religious institutions, in a manner that guarantees the dignity of the displaced and alleviates the material and moral burdens of displacement.”
4. “The gravity of the Zionist project against Lebanon in its current phase necessitates that all liberation forces — individuals, elites, and groups — organize themselves within the framework of comprehensive resistance. This resistance must be manifest in all aspects of daily life and occupy the public sphere, especially given the colonial control over traditional media in Lebanon and the region. Political and popular struggle is a necessary, urgent, and pressing duty.”

This comes as Israeli attacks on Lebanon since March 2, have killed more than 1,268 people, wounded more than 3,750 and displaced over one million individuals. Israeli occupation forces have also attempted to push deeper into southern Lebanese territory in recent days, with resistance fighters relentlessly blocking their attempts.