Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem has accused Lebanon’s government of “handing” the country to Israel by pushing for the group’s disarmament, warning it would fight to keep its weapons.
Qassem spoke in a televised address on Friday after meeting Iran’s top security chief, Ali Larijani. Tehran has long backed the Lebanese armed group.
Hezbollah emerged badly weakened from last year’s war with Israel, and under United States pressure, the Lebanese government has ordered the army to devise a plan to disarm the group by the end of the year.
Iran, whose “axis of resistance” includes Hezbollah, has also suffered a series of setbacks, most recently in its own war with Israel, which saw the US strike its nuclear sites.
“This is our nation together. We live in dignity together, and we build its sovereignty together – or Lebanon will have no life if you stand on the other side and try to confront us and eliminate us,” Qassem said.
“The government is implementing an American-Israeli order to end the resistance, even if it leads to civil war and internal strife,” the Hezbollah leader added.
“The resistance will not surrender its weapons while aggression continues, occupation persists, and we will fight it … if necessary to confront this American-Israeli project no matter the cost,” he said.
Qassem urged the government “not to hand over the country to an insatiable Israeli aggressor or an American tyrant with limitless greed”.
He also said the government would “bear responsibility for any internal explosion and any destruction of Lebanon” as he accused it of “leading the country to ruin”.
Hezbollah and its ally the Amal party would not organise any street protests at this time, he said, while threatening to do so in future.
Before the war with Israel in October and November, Hezbollah was believed to be better armed than the Lebanese military.
It has long maintained it needs to keep its arsenal to defend Lebanon from attack, but critics accused it of using its weapons for political leverage.
This week, Larijani, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council chief, was in Beirut, where he met Qassem and President Joseph Aoun.
Iran has expressed its opposition to the government’s disarmament plan and has promised to continue to provide support to Hezbollah.
Aoun told Larijani that he rejected any interference in the country’s internal affairs, branding as “unconstructive” Iran’s statements on plans to disarm Hezbollah.
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