https://arab.news/yvkt8
- Naim Qassem accuses government of ‘handing’ the country to Israel by pushing for the group’s disarmament
- ‘The resistance will not surrender its weapons while aggression continues, occupation persists, and we will fight it’
BEIRUT: Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Friday accused Lebanon’s government of “handing” the country to Israel by pushing for the group’s disarmament, warning it would fight to keep its weapons.
Qassem spoke in a televised address after meeting Iran’s top security chief Ali Larijani, whose country has long backed the Lebanese militant group.
Hezbollah emerged badly weakened from last year’s war with Israel, and under US pressure the Lebanese government has ordered the army to devise a plan to disarm the group by the end of the year.
Iran, whose so-called “axis of resistance” includes Hezbollah, has also suffered a series of setbacks, most recently in the war with Israel that saw the United States strike its nuclear sites.
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He also warned the Lebanese government against confronting the militant group, saying there would be “no life” in Lebanon in that event.
Qassem said Hezbollah and the Amal movement, its Shiite Muslim ally, had decided to delay any street protests against a US-backed disarmament plan as they still see room for dialogue with the Lebanese government. But he said any future protests could reach the US Embassy in Lebanon.
“The government is implementing an American-Israeli order to end the resistance, even if it leads to civil war and internal strife,” Qassem said.
“The resistance will not surrender its weapons while aggression continues, occupation persists, and we will fight it... if necessary to confront this American-Israeli project no matter the cost,” he said.
Qassem urged the government “not to hand over the country to an insatiable Israeli aggressor or an American tyrant with limitless greed.”