|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Iranian-backed Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah declared over the weekend that it will not adhere to the terms of the ceasefire deal with Israel brokered by France and the US last year.
On Sunday night, Naim Qassem, the successor to Hassan Nasrallah as Hezbollah’s secretary-general, spoke on the pro-Hezbollah TV channel Al-Manar, pushing back on pressure from the Trump administration to disarm, as required by the November 2024 deal which secured Israel’s withdrawal from nearly all of Lebanese territory.
Qassem claimed Hezbollah has a “legitimate right” to maintain its arsenal and to engage in “resistance.”
“Possessing weapons is an inseparable part of our legitimate right to defend our homeland. Resistance is a legitimate right,” Qassem said.
Despite Beirut’s pledge to implement the terms of the deal and to disarm all paramilitary groups in Lebanon – including Hezbollah – Qassem claimed that the push for disarmament constituted foreign interference, and thus was not binding.
“The Lebanese state decides how it wants to operate internally regarding the handling of weapons. Israel has nothing to do with this,” Qassem continued.
“If the Lebanese army does not have the capacity to confront [Israel] alone, there must be popular resistance to face the assaults alongside the army.”
“There must be coordination between the army and the resistance to stand against this. But no one has the right to say, ‘Let’s give up the weapons to remove the excuse’ – why should we disarm and then wait for the aggression to return? First stop the attacks, then we’ll talk about the weapons issue.”
Last week, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who also serves as envoy to Syria, warned that Hezbollah’s continuing refusal to disarm increases the likelihood of Israeli attacks and a resumption of the full-scale fighting which was ended by the November 2024 deal.
“Disarming Hizballah is thus not only Israel’s security imperative; it is Lebanon’s opportunity for renewal. For Israel, it means a secure northern frontier. For Lebanon, it means sovereignty restored and the chance for economic revival.”
While the Lebanese army reported progress in demilitarizing southern Lebanon and dismantling Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure near the Israeli frontier, Beirut has failed to give any timetable for disarming Hezbollah north of the Litani River.