Hezbollah ‘will not let anyone disarm it,’ vows leader Naim Qassem
IDF kills two Hezbollah operatives in separate strikes, including the head of the terror group’s communications south of the Litani River
Hezbollah “will not let anyone disarm” it, the Lebanese group’s leader Naim Qassem said Friday, as Washington presses Beirut to compel the Iran-backed movement to hand over its weapons, and as Israel continues to strike operatives in southern Lebanon on a near-daily basis.
“We will not let anyone disarm Hezbollah or disarm the resistance” against Israel, Qassem said in remarks on a Hezbollah-affiliated TV channel. “We must cut this idea of disarmament from the dictionary.”
Qassem said his group was ready for dialogue on a “defence strategy,” “but not under the pressure of occupation” by Israel.
“Israel must withdraw (from south Lebanon) and cease its aggression, and the Lebanese state must begin the process of reconstruction,” he added.
His comments came hours after another Hezbollah official said the group refused to discuss handing over its weapons unless Israel withdrew completely from south Lebanon and halted its “aggression.”
“It is not a question of disarming,” Wafic Safa said in an interview with Hezbollah’s Al-Nur radio station. “What the president said in his inauguration speech is a defensive strategy.”
In his inauguration in January, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun vowed to assert the state’s monopoly on weapons. He has made similar comments last week, asserting that “2025 will be the year in which the Lebanese state alone holds weapons.”
Safa, said by experts to belong to the movement’s most radical faction, said Hezbollah has conveyed its position to Aoun, who on Tuesday said he sought “to make 2025 the year of restricting arms to the state” alone.
Two Hezbollah operatives were killed in separate Israeli drone strikes in southern Lebanon on Friday, the military announced, as the terror group ruled out any talk of disarmament until Israel withdraws from its five strategic points in the country.
A strike in the coastal Lebanese city of Sidon on Friday morning targeted Muhammad Abdullah, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Abdullah was responsible for the deployment of the Iran-backed terror group’s communication systems across Lebanon, especially in areas south of the Litani River, according to the IDF.
“The activities of the terrorists in the recent period constitute a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and pose a threat to the State of Israel and its citizens,” the IDF added.
At the scene of the strike, members of the security forces stood guard as a crowd gathered to look at the charred remains of the vehicle after firemen had put out the blaze.
Separately, the IDF said it killed a Hezbollah operative in a drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Ayta ash-Shab on Friday.
The operative was involved in “terror activity,” according to the military.
Friday’s strikes came a day after the IDF said it killed a Hezbollah commander in a drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Blida.
The strike targeted Ali Ibar al-Nabi Khadi, the deputy commander of Hezbollah’s forces in the Mhaibib area, according to the military.
Under the terms of a November 27 ceasefire, which ended more than 13 months of war, Hezbollah was required to vacate southern Lebanon, while Israel was permitted to act against what it deemed to be imminent threats from the terror group. Israel, which was required to withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon, has held on to five areas it described as strategic.
The war was sparked when Hezbollah, unprovoked, began launching near-daily attacks on northern Israel on October 8, 2023 — a day after Hamas stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza. Israel invaded Lebanon in September in a bid to stop Hezbollah’s attacks, which had displaced some 60,000 northerners.
The Times of Israel Community.