Hezbollah’s Secretary General, Naim Qassem, delivered a defiant speech on Friday rejecting the Lebanese government’s plan to disarm the group by the end of the year.
Qassem vowed that Hezbollah would never surrender its weapons, describing the group’s armed resistance as essential to counter what he called ongoing Israeli aggression and occupation. “The resistance will not surrender its weapons while aggression continues and occupation persists,” he declared, warning that any attempt to forcibly disarm Hezbollah could plunge Lebanon into civil war or internal strife.
He accused the Lebanese government of advancing an “American-Israeli project” designed to weaken the country’s sovereignty, claiming the initiative serves Israel’s interests rather than Lebanon’s. Qassem urged Beirut to focus on expelling Israeli forces from Lebanese territory instead of dismantling Hezbollah’s arsenal. He warned that if disarmament is enforced, Hezbollah and its political ally, the Amal Movement, could mobilize mass protests nationwide.
The speech comes in the context of a fragile ceasefire with Israel agreed to last November. Hezbollah says Israel has violated the truce almost daily and has failed to withdraw from five areas of Lebanese territory as required under the deal. The group also criticizes Beirut’s silence in the face of frequent Israeli airstrikes, arguing that the government is incapable of defending the country.
Qassem’s remarks followed a meeting earlier this week with Iran’s top security chief, Ali Larijani, who condemned Beirut’s disarmament plan and pledged continued Iranian support for Hezbollah amid rising regional tensions.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam denounced Qassem’s comments as an “unacceptable” threat of civil war, insisting that the disarmament plan is a purely Lebanese decision, not one dictated by foreign powers. Since taking office earlier this year, Salam’s government and President Joseph Aoun have faced accusations of aligning too closely with U.S. and Israeli interests, particularly for failing to respond to near-daily Israeli strikes inside Lebanon.
Since the government’s disarmament proposal was announced, large-scale protests by Hezbollah supporters have erupted across the country, driving political tensions to their highest level since 2005, when the Cedar Revolution ended nearly three decades of Syrian military presence in Lebanon.