'Veiled threat of civil war': Salam joins charge against Naim Qassem's remarks
"The remarks of Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem contain an implicit threat of civil war. However, no one in Lebanon today wants a civil war, and any form of threat or mention of one is completely unacceptable," Prime Minister Nawaf Salam posted on X, quoting an interview he gave earlier in the day to As-Sharq Al-Awsat. "We warn against any irresponsible behavior that could encourage discord and division."
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"To claim that the Lebanese government is implementing an American-Israeli project is baseless. Our decisions are purely Lebanese, taken within our Council of Ministers, and no one can impose them on us," the prime minister said. "The Taif Agreement is our fundamental pact and explicitly stipulates: 'the extension of the authority of the Lebanese state throughout its territory by its own forces.' No party in Lebanon is authorized to bear arms outside the framework of the state." This was a direct response to Qassem, who stated that the weapons of the "resistance" drew their legitimacy from the Taif Agreement, which ended the 1975-1990 Civil War.
"No one asked for Hezbollah's weapons to be handed over to the Israeli enemy, as some claim, but rather to the Lebanese army, whose patriotism we refuse to question," Salam added.
Former presidents Amine Gemayel and Michel Sleiman, along with former Prime Ministers Najib Mikati, Fouad Siniora and Tammam Salam, held a meeting via Zoom. Following the meeting, they also responded to the Hezbollah leader's speech, condemning the Israeli actions that continue their daily strikes, primarily in southern Lebanon.
In their statement, they expressed their "concern" over the remarks of the secretary-general, "who affirmed his rejection of the position and decisions of the Lebanese government, of the policy of concentrating weapons in the hands of legitimate military and security forces, and of his refusal to hand over weapons to the state." They also said that "the escalation of Naim Qassem and his political conditions risk complicating the situation and placing obstacles in the path of restoring the full authority of the state."
Sunnis, Christians and Druze
Tripoli MP Ashraf Rifi was one of the first to react in the morning, warning Hezbollah against "resorting to threats of civil war," in a statement made following the speech by Hezbollah's secretary-general.
"Sheikh Naim Qassem's party brought occupation, humanitarian catastrophe, and economic collapse to Lebanon. Today, after its defeat, it threatens the Lebanese state and people, portrays itself as a victim, and accuses the majority of treason," he said, according to a statement published by the state-run National News Agency (NNA). "Enough shirking responsibility. The only solution is: the state, the state, and the state. We warn you: stop threatening civil war."
"It would be a catastrophe for everyone, and especially for you, after having alienated all the Lebanese communities and having harmed them," he added before inviting the party to abandon its allegiance to Iran, which he claimed was "collapsing today both internally and in all the areas where it has intervened."
Justice Minister Adel Nassar, whose speech on al-Ghad TV was also relayed by NNA, criticized "the threat of some to destroy Lebanon to defend their weapons puts an end to the argument that weapons are intended for the defense of the country." In his interview, the minister also targeted the head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, Mohammad Raad, who gave a similar speech in substance to that of Qassem during an interview with al-Manar a week ago.
"The war in Lebanon is not an individual game ... Its decision is not taken in the name of a community, but with the signature of the entire nation," Industry Minister Joe Issa Khoury wrote on X.
In a lengthy message on the same platform addressed to Qassem, Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel listed several articles of the Lebanese Penal Code that punish remarks similar to those made by the Hezbollah leader. Gemayel cited, in particular, Article 329, which punishes "any act aimed at preventing a Lebanese from exercising his rights," and Article 314, which states that "acts aimed at sowing panic, committed by means likely to create a public danger, such as explosives, flammable materials, toxic or destructive substances, microbial or pathogenic agents," are considered terrorist acts.
His cousin and MP from the same party, Nadim Gemayel, directly addressed the Hezbollah leader: "There is no life for Lebanon as long as your weapons are outside the authority of the state."
Ghayath Yazbeck, a Lebanese Forces MP in Batroun, also spoke out on X: "Sheikh Naim fights Israel with his words and destroys Lebanon with his actions, after the war paralyzed his party, rendering it inoperative and transforming its action into a mere sound phenomenon," he posted. "Do not threaten us, sheikh, with Karbalaization (referring to the death of Imam Hussein in Karbala in a sentence from the Hezbollah leader's speech); we are already immersed in a general massacre, and the deadly nihilism into which you have plunged Lebanon has no relation to the sacred and sublime spirit of Karbala. Spare the martyred environment and spare Lebanon."
MP Rajji al-Saad, from the Progressive Socialist Party, also spoke out, saying that Qassem's remarks "constitute a dangerous turning point today, because they reflect a rejection by the state and a determination to maintain Lebanon as a staging ground for Iranian projects."
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