Hezbollah has once again rejected calls to disarm, urging mass anti-government protests in response to mounting pressure from the Lebanese government.
“We will not relinquish the weapon that protects us from our enemy,” Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said in a televised speech on Monday.
“Those who want to disarm us are like those who seek to take our soul from us, and then they will witness our might,” the terrorist leader continued.
According to Qassem, Lebanon cannot hold talks on a national defense strategy until Israel honors the Nov. 27 ceasefire agreement between the two countries brokered by the US.
On Monday, Israeli officials said their country is “ready to support” Lebanon’s efforts to disarm the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah and will carry out a phased reduction of its military presence in Lebanon as a “reciprocal measure.”
“Israel will not be able to remain in Lebanon. The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] may occupy, kill, and destroy, but we will confront it so that it does not settle,” Qassem said during his speech.
“This is within our capability. The role of resistance now is greater and stronger,” he continued.
The terrorist leader also accused the United States of endangering Lebanon, claiming it seeks to destabilize the country through “sabotage and sedition.”
“Resistance is faith and will, it is nationalism and honor, it is pride and resilience, and it is a condition opposite to humiliation, surrender, and submission,” Qassem said. “It is a reaction to aggression, confronting it and obstructing its objectives.”
Meanwhile, Hezbollah urged its supporters to protest in Beirut this week against recent government actions to disarm “resistance groups,” describing the moves as harmful to Lebanon’s national interests and the principle of coexistence.
In its statement, the Shi’ite Islamist group said the protests are meant to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty, uphold the legitimacy of armed resistance against Israel, and reject what it called “external pressures” on the Lebanese state.
“This stand is an affirmation of our right to preserve our arms, which have proven capable of breaking the enemy’s power, and of our right to resist Israeli aggression and occupation,” the statement read.
Earlier this month, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun approved a US-backed plan to disarm Hezbollah, under which the group would fully lay down its weapons within four months in exchange for Israel halting airstrikes and withdrawing troops from positions it still occupies in southern Lebanon following last year’s war.
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