Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, has pushed back against increasing international pressure, particularly from the United States, for the Lebanese group to lay down its arms, stating that such calls align only with Israel’s interests.
“Those urging us to hand over our weapons are effectively demanding we surrender them to Israel,” Qassem said during a televised speech on Wednesday.
It marked the first anniversary of the Israeli assassination of senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.
“We will never submit to Israel.”
Qassem’s comments come amid a renewed U.S. push for Lebanon to formally commit, through a cabinet-level decision, to the full disarmament of Hezbollah.
According to sources cited by Reuters, Washington sees such a step as a prerequisite to restarting stalled negotiations on halting Israeli military activity in southern Lebanon.
This has continued despite a ceasefire deal brokered in November of last year.
Under that ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah was to pull its forces north of the Litani River, approximately 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border. This arrangement was intended to leave only the Lebanese Army and UN peacekeeping forces operating south of the river. However, although Hezbollah has publicly refused to give up its weapons, the group has reportedly considered reducing its arsenal in private discussions.
Qassem rejected these demands outright.
“Whether they come from internal factions, international actors, or Arab states, all calls for disarmament ultimately support the Israeli agenda,” he said.
He also accused U.S. Special Envoy Tom Barrack of advocating disarmament solely for Israel’s security interests, not Lebanon’s.
“The Americans want our missiles and drones removed because they frighten Israel,” Qassem stated.
“But Israel will never defeat us, nor will it be allowed to take Lebanon hostage.”
Earlier this month, Barrack met with Lebanese officials in Beirut, offering a proposal that would see Hezbollah disarmed within four months.
In exchange, Israeli forces would withdraw from several contested positions in southern Lebanon and halt ongoing airstrikes, which have killed thousands of Lebanese civilians.
While this plan is being considered by Lebanese authorities, Hezbollah remains deeply skeptical.
Qassem reiterated that Hezbollah sees the ceasefire as applying solely to areas south of the Litani River and warned against tying the group’s weapons to any part of the agreement.
“Our arms are a domestic issue.
“They have nothing to do with the enemy,” he declared, emphasizing that Hezbollah’s weaponry is an internal matter for Lebanon, not for foreign negotiation.
Despite the ceasefire, Israel has retained a military presence in five strategic locations in southern Lebanon, a fact that Hezbollah and many Lebanese officials see as a violation of the truce.
“The real threat is the ongoing Israeli aggression,” Qassem said.
“That must stop immediately.
“Our national discourse should be focused on ending that aggression—not on handing our weapons over to Israel.”
A senior Lebanese official, speaking anonymously, confirmed that the country is under mounting international and regional pressure.
The pressure is that they adopt a formal stance on Hezbollah’s disarmament.
The source added that the U.S. has rejected Lebanon’s condition that Israeli forces must first fully withdraw before any discussion on Hezbollah’s weapons can take place.
In response to the intensifying debate, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has scheduled a cabinet meeting next week.
The agenda includes discussion on “reasserting state authority over all Lebanese territories solely through its national forces.”
Salam, along with other leaders who took office following last year’s violent clashes between Hezbollah and Israel, has pledged to ensure that the state maintains a monopoly on the use of arms.
The upcoming cabinet meeting is also expected to address various proposals concerning the implementation of the ceasefire.
These include aspects of Barrack’s plan.
However, Hezbollah remains firm in its stance: before any conversation on disarmament can begin, Israel must halt its military strikes.
It must also fully withdraw from the remaining positions it occupies in southern Lebanon.
As regional and international pressures mount, Lebanon finds itself at a crossroads.
It is caught between calls for state sovereignty and the complex realities of its security dynamics with Israel and Hezbollah’s entrenched role in its defense strategy.
