Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has rejected Lebanon’s decision to disarm the Iran-backed militant organisation, describing it as a US-Israeli directive and warning of a major crisis.
Qassem threatened open confrontation on Friday if Lebanon’s government carried out plans to disarm the terrorist organisation, claiming that the cabinet decision was a fulfillment of “US-Israeli orders.”
The Lebanese Council of Ministers passed a decision last week ordering the army to create and implement a disarmament plan by the end of the year, posing the most severe challenge to Hezbollah since the civil war ended in 1990.
“The decision is dangerous and exposes the country to a major crisis, it strips the resistance and Lebanon of defensive weapons during aggression,” Qassem said during a televised speech in Baalbek.
Qassem vowed Hezbollah would not surrender its weapons and warned of armed conflict, if not outright war.
The Hezbollah secretary-general laid the blame on the government in Beirut, saying it “bears full responsibility for any internal explosion and any destruction of Lebanon.”
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He rejected the idea of protests at this time “because there is room for dialogue with the government,” but warned demonstrations could escalate if deemed necessary.
Qassem said “This is our land together, our homeland together, we live together, or there is no life for Lebanon,” he said in a direct warning to authorities.
He also thanked Iran for supporting Hezbollah “with money, weapons, capabilities, and media and political positions.”
The Tehran-backed militant group remains the only faction that retained its military arsenal after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war.
However, it has been significantly weakened as a consequence of its most recent conflict with Israel.
Hezbollah first struck Israel in October 2023 after the breakout of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, leading to Israeli airstrikes across southern Lebanon and Beirut’s suburbs and a limited ground incursion.
The fighting intensified last September after Israel remotely detonated thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members and killing Qassem’s predecessor Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike.
Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in November 2024, mediated by the US and France.
