Lebanese PM: Hezbollah says its arms are for deterrence, they don’t stop Israeli attacks

By AP 27 November 2025, 7:11 pm

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Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam arrives to attend a cabinet session to discuss an army plan to disarm Hezbollah, at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, on September 5, 2025. (ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam says Hezbollah’s arms have failed to deter Israeli airstrikes, protect the Lebanese people, or even safeguard the lives of its own leaders.

“Hezbollah says its weapons are deterring aggression. Deterrence means preventing the enemy from carrying out an aggression, but it (Israel) is attacking and the weapons are not deterring it,” Salam says in comments run by state-run National News Agency.

Salam’s rare criticism of the group comes as the United States and Israel have increasingly pressured Lebanon’s government to disarm the terror group. Hezbollah has refused to give up its weapons.