Naim Qassem says group won’t abandon weapons ‘that defend us from our enemy’, insists on finish to Israeli assaults.
Hezbollah Secretary-Normal Naim Qassem has rejected rising strain to disarm the group, warning that Lebanon’s sovereignty may solely be achieved by ending Israeli “aggression”.
Talking on Monday from Beirut, Qassem stated the Lebanese authorities should first guarantee Israel complies with a November 2024 ceasefire settlement earlier than talks on a nationwide defence technique can happen.
“The resistance will stay as a robust barrier stopping Israel from attaining its targets, and Israel won’t be able to stay in Lebanon or obtain its expansionist challenge by way of Lebanon,” the Hezbollah chief stated.
He dismissed Lebanese authorities and overseas proposals to combine Hezbollah’s arsenal right into a nationwide defence technique, insisting that Israel should first withdraw from Lebanese territory, launch prisoners, and halt assaults.
“In case you really need sovereignty, then cease the aggression. We won’t abandon the weapons that honour us, nor the weapons that defend us from our enemy,” Qassem stated.
“If this authorities continues in its present kind, it can’t be trusted to safeguard Lebanon’s sovereignty,” he added.
Final month, the Lebanese Council of Ministers accredited a decision tasking the military with formulating a plan to disarm Hezbollah by the top of the yr.
The decree was in accordance with a United States initiative that features obscure guarantees that Israel would finish its occupation of components of south Lebanon and every day assaults on the nation if Hezbollah’s weapons are eliminated.
Hezbollah has stated it will treat the choice “as if it doesn’t exist”.
Qassem’s feedback got here as Israel stated it might contemplate scaling again its army presence in southern Lebanon if Beirut’s armed forces moved to grab Hezbollah’s weapons. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace introduced Monday that Israel was able to help Lebanon’s cupboard resolution tasking the military with a disarmament plan by year-end.
“If the Lebanese Armed Forces take the mandatory steps to implement the disarmament of Hezbollah, Israel will have interaction in reciprocal measures, together with a phased discount” by the Israeli army, the Israeli prime minister’s workplace stated.
The Israeli announcement got here a day after Netanyahu met with US envoy Tom Barrack, who has been closely concerned in a plan that might disarm Hezbollah and withdraw Israeli forces from Lebanon.
‘Step-by-step’
Barrack referred to as on Israel to honour commitments underneath a ceasefire with Hezbollah.
“There’s all the time a step-by-step strategy however I believe the Lebanese authorities has finished their half. They’ve taken step one. Now what we’d like is Israel to conform,” Barrack stated throughout conferences with Lebanese officers in Beirut final week.
Lebanon’s official Nationwide Information Company on Monday reported US deputy envoy Morgan Ortagus had arrived in Beirut earlier than deliberate conferences with officers.
Israel nonetheless occupies 5 positions in southern Lebanon, regardless of a US-brokered ceasefire final November. It was to withdraw its forces inside two months, and Lebanon’s armed forces had been to take management of the nation’s south, territory that has lengthy been a stronghold for Hezbollah.
Israeli forces have continued to hold out air assaults throughout Lebanon in near-daily violations of the November truce, inflicting deaths and accidents amongst civilians, together with Syrian refugees, and destruction of properties and infrastructure.
Within the newest Israeli aggression, one particular person was killed in a drone assault in southern Lebanon. Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Well being stated the drone hit a pick-up truck on the Ain al-Mazrab-Tebnine street within the Bint Jbeil district.
In a while Monday, the Israeli army claimed in a press release it had killed a Hezbollah member and would “proceed to function to take away threats posed to the residents of Israel”.
Hezbollah, the one faction that saved its weapons after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil struggle, emerged badly weakened from final yr’s struggle with Israel, with the assassination of senior leaders, together with former chief Hassan Nasrallah, 1000’s of its fighters and Lebanese civilians killed, and tens of 1000’s of the Shia and different communities displaced from their destroyed properties.
The newest developments come because the United Nations Safety Council prepares to vote Monday on extending the mandate of UNIFIL, the worldwide peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, till August 2026.
