Hezbollah vows to fight disarmament as Lebanon PM slams civil war ‘threats'
Qassem gave a televised address after meeting with Iran's security chief Ali Larijani, whose country has long backed the Lebanese group.
Hezbollah emerged badly weakened from last year's war with Israel, and the Lebanese government – under US pressure – has ordered the army to draw up a plan to disarm the group by the end of the year.
Iran, whose so-called 'axis of resistance' includes Hezbollah, has also suffered a series of setbacks, most recently in its own war with Israel, which also saw the United States strike its nuclear facilities.
'The government is implementing an American-Israeli order to end the resistance, even if it leads to civil war and internal strife,' Qassem said.
'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 urged the government 'not to hand over the country to an insatiable Israeli aggressor or an American tyrant with limitless greed', adding the state would 'bear responsibility for any internal explosion and any destruction of Lebanon'.
President says Lebanon determined to disarm Hezbollah
Prime Minister Salam later denounced the remarks, saying on X that they 'constitute an implicit threat of civil war'.
He added that 'any threat or intimidation related to such a war is totally unacceptable'.
Salam also hit back at Hezbollah's characterisation of the disarmament push as an American-Israeli effort.
'Our decisions are purely Lebanese, made by our cabinet, and no one tells us what to do,' he said.
'The Lebanese have the right to stability and security… without which the country will not be able to recover, and no reconstruction or investment will take place.'
Before the war with Israel, Hezbollah was believed to be better armed than the Lebanese military.
It long maintained it had to keep its arsenal in order to defend Lebanon from attack, but critics accused it of using its weapons for political leverage.
Qassem said Friday that Hezbollah and its political ally Amal would not be organising any street protests against disarmament at this time, but threatened to do so in future.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council chief Larijani was in Beirut this week, and held talks with Qassem as well as with President Joseph Aoun.
Iran has expressed its opposition to the government's disarmament plan, and has vowed to continue to provide support, with Lebanese officials recently hardening their tone towards Hezbollah and its patron.
Both the president and the prime minister took issue with Iran's recent statements during Larijani's trip, with Salam saying Lebanon rejects 'any interference in its internal affairs'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Express Tribune
an hour ago
- Express Tribune
Trump-Putin summit
Presidents of two great powers are meeting in Alaska. This is after a lapse of six years that a Russian and an American President will have a one-on-one summit, with the war on Ukraine being the sole agenda item. One of the presidents seeks peace in Ukraine, while the other brings to the negotiating table the conditions that must be met before any peace agreement is reached. Let there be no mistake that nothing substantial will come out of this summit. I say this because of the pre-summit positions that all four stakeholders — the United States, Russia, Ukraine as well as Europe — have taken on the conflict. The key question that President Vladimir Putin brings to the summit, scheduled in Alaska, is, what does President Donald Trump think about the Russian demands? Putin has not taken one step backwards, which indicates that he may be willing to strike a compromise. Ukraine cannot become part of NATO; NATO must stop encroaching eastwards; Ukraine must demilitarise the oblasts; the Russian language should be declared the official language in the oblasts; and Ukraine's post-war neutrality must be guaranteed. These are the Russian demands that Putin is in no mood to side-step from. The Summit also comes on the heels of President Trump's 50-day and later 10-day ultimatum to Russia. The fact that the US special envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff, met President Putin on the termination of the second ultimatum suggests that Trump was looking for a way out of the foreign policy tangle he got himself into. He was to take some harsh action after the ultimatum was over; instead, he is landing in Alaska for a summit. Putin might just have provided his American counterpart some face-saving by agreeing to meet him in Alaska. The fact that Putin is travelling to America to meet Trump is already being seen as a diplomatic victory for the former. A president who has been called "a dictator, a mass murderer and a political leader who cannot be trusted to keep his promises" will be shaking hands with the President of the country on its soil that leads such accusations against him. The second stakeholder is Ukraine, which will be absent from the summit. President Volodymyr Zelensky's pre-summit remarks reflect the prospects of the upcoming summit. He says that Ukraine must be discussed with Ukraine, and he only supports the three-sided format of negotiations. He wants a ceasefire and security guarantees from Russia, both of which President Putin is not willing to give. Russia first wants all its demands met before any talk of a ceasefire. Given the state of military operations on the ground, Russia finds no incentive in backing down from its demands because Russian military operations on the ground continue to gain weight and are now increasingly exploiting the Ukrainian vulnerabilities due to the lack of men and material. President Trump is already talking about the second meeting and says that it is in the second meeting that any deal may take place. He says this because he cannot discuss his much-boasted 'land swaps' without the presence of the Ukrainian chair at the table. Anybody who is closely following the run-up to the Alaska summit would observe that the United States has failed to give any clear objective about the summit. Maybe that is deliberate, as the failure to achieve a given objective would determine the success or failure of the summit itself. So the objective has conveniently been kept in the dark. Europeans, the fourth stakeholder in the conflict, are also very explicit in their demands. They want a ceasefire before anything else. They support Ukraine's right to join NATO and demand withdrawal of all Russian forces not only from the occupied oblasts but also from Crimea. The European position also seems non-negotiable. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, in his pre-summit speech, said that President Trump must begin by asking for a ceasefire. President Emmanuel Macron of France has said that the Ukrainian territory should be discussed only with Ukraine at the negotiating table. President Putin will end the special military operations in Ukraine only if his demands are met at the negotiating table. Will those conditions be acceptable to President Trump and his European allies? It is understandable that without President Zelensky's participation, President Trump cannot concede anything to Russia on Ukraine's behalf. So, there are all the chances of the first meeting being used to convey to the world that the war in Ukraine has come to the negotiating table, and it is in the second meeting that any deal or swap over of the land or territorial settlement will be discussed. President Putin is coming to Alaska with non-negotiable demands. President Zelensky is not ready to concede Ukrainian land. Europeans want a ceasefire and give no weight to the Russian demands. So, if President Trump has nothing to offer to the Russian president, then the key question here is, why President Putin has agreed to come to Alaska for a summit? President Putin will take this opportunity to present himself as a great diplomat to the world — someone who is ready to negotiate the end of the war. With the world focusing on him, he will also get an opportunity to present the Russian case to the world. If there is a post-summit joint statement or exposure to the media for a question-and-answer session, then President Putin will be more at peace to get such an opportunity to lay bare in front of the world the existential threat that Russia considers it faces and which the world continues to ignore. A ceasefire can end hostilities, but only a peace settlement can ensure that hostilities don't resume. Ukraine's security concerns will only be addressed if it agrees to become a neutral state. Withdrawal of Russian forces from any of the Ukrainian land without the Russian demands being met is not a bet that the world should be ready to make. Russia controls the land in Ukraine, and the military conditions on the ground support the strong negotiating position that President Putin is all set to take in Alaska. By the time this goes to print, whatever happens in the summit in Alaska will be pretty clear. Yet, my analysis is based on the pre-summit positions of the four stakeholders in the conflict, and also the superior military position that Russia holds on the ground in the conflict. There may be promises, but nothing substantial will come out of this summit.
Business Recorder
8 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Gaza civil defence says Israeli fire kills 22
GAZA STRIP: Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli attacks killed at least 22 people on Saturday, warning that intensifying strikes on a Gaza City neighbourhood were placing its remaining residents in mortal danger. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said conditions in the Zeitun neighbourhood were rapidly deteriorating with residents having little to no access to food and water amid heavy Israeli bombardment. He said that about 50,000 people are estimated to be in that area of Gaza City, 'the majority of whom are without food or water' and lacking 'the basic necessities of life'. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swaths of the Palestinian territory mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency, the Israeli military and other sources. UN says at least 1,760 killed while seeking aid in Gaza since late May In recent days, Gaza City residents have told AFP of more frequent air strikes targeting residential areas, including in Zeitun, while earlier this week Hamas denounced 'aggressive' Israeli ground incursions. To Bassal, Israel was carrying out 'ethnic cleansing' in Zeitun. Israeli officials have dismissed similar accusations before, and the military insists it abides by international law. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet approved plans to seize Gaza City, one of the most densely populated parts of the territory which has been devastated by more than 22 months of war. On Friday, the Israeli military said its troops were operating in Zeitun. Ghassan Kashko, 40, who shelters with his family at a school building in the neighbourhood, said: 'We don't know the taste of sleep.' He said air strikes and tank shelling were causing 'explosions… that don't stop'. The Israeli plan to expand the war has sparked an international outcry as well as domestic opposition. UN-backed experts have warned of widespread famine unfolding in the territory, where Israel has drastically curtailed the amount of humanitarian aid it allows in. According to the civil defence agency, at least 13 of the Palestinians killed on Saturday were shot by troops as they were waiting to collect food aid near distribution sites in the north and in the south.
Business Recorder
9 hours ago
- Business Recorder
US proposed NATO-style joint defence guarantees for Kyiv: source
KYIV: The US has proposed security guarantees for Ukraine similar to – but separate from – those enjoyed by NATO member countries, a diplomatic source told AFP on Saturday. The suggestion was raised during a call US President Donald Trump held with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders earlier on Saturday, the source said. 'As one of the security guarantees for Ukraine, the American side proposed a non-NATO Article 5 type guarantee, supposedly agreed with (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin,' the diplomatic source said on condition they not be identified in any way. NATO's collective security is based on its Article 5 principle: if one member is attacked, the entire alliance comes to its defence. Trump says Ukraine needs to make a deal after summit with Putin ends without ceasefire Trump, Zelensky and European leaders – who included NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte – spoke early Saturday to discuss Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin held on Friday in Alaska. Before that joint call, Trump also had a call with Zelensky as flew back from Alaska. 'The American side voiced this (joint security proposal) during a conversation with the president (Zelensky) and then repeated it during a joint conversation with the Europeans,' the diplomatic source said. Another source with knowledge of the matter confirmed the NATO-like guarantees had been discussed. But that source added: 'No-one knows how this could work and why Putin would agree to it if he is categorically against NATO and obviously against really effective guarantees of Ukraine's sovereignty.' Kyiv has long aspired to join NATO – but Russia has given that as one of its reasons for its war in Ukraine, and some Western circles have expressed resistance to the idea. Trump has repeatedly ruled out Ukraine joining the Western military alliance. Zelensky is due in Washington on Monday for talks with Trump. The second source told AFP that Zelensky is to discuss what form a possible Trump-Putin-Zelensky summit would have, the role of Kyiv's European allies in peace talks, territories, and security guarantees.
