Key Points
- Lebanese authorities claim to dismantle Hezbollah’s infrastructure in south
- Israel continues to strike Lebanon despite the November ceasefire
- US envoy Tom Barrack expected in Beirut on Monday
BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem Sunday said that his group will neither surrender nor disarm in response to Israeli threats, rejecting ongoing pressure to lay down its weapons.
“This threat will not make us accept surrender,” Qassem said in a televised speech to thousands of his supporters in the southern suburbs of Beirut on the day of Ashura.
Lebanese leaders who assumed office following last year’s war between Israel and Hezbollah have consistently pledged to uphold the state’s exclusive right to bear arms, while also calling on Israel to adhere to the November ceasefire that ended the conflict.
Hezbollah’s new leader, Naim Qassem—who succeeded Hassan Nasrallah after his death in an Israeli strike in September—reaffirmed that the group’s fighters will not disarm, insisting that Israel must first end its “aggression.”
His speech came as US envoy Tom Barrack was expected in Beirut on Monday.
Lebanese authorities are expected to respond by the end of the year to Barrack’s request for the disarmament of Hezbollah, according to a Lebanese official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.
Officials claim that efforts are already underway to dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border.
On Saturday, the Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told visiting UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy that Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory “complicates the state’s ability to fully assert sovereignty and enforce exclusive control over weapons.”
Israel has continued to strike Lebanon despite the November ceasefire, claiming to hit Hezbollah targets and accusing Beirut of not doing enough to disarm the group.
Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah is required to withdraw its fighters to positions north of the Litani River, approximately 30 kilometers from the Israeli border.
Israel, in turn, was expected to pull its forces out of all Lebanese territory but has maintained a presence at five locations it considers strategically important.
Israel launched a wide-scale assault on Lebanon on Oct. 8, 2023, that escalated into a full-scale war by Sept. 23, 2024. The conflict has killed more than 4,000 people, wounded over 17,000, and displaced nearly 1.4 million, according to official data.
