The leader Hezbollah Naim Qassem Photo: AFP / AFP / Profimedia
Hezbollah invokes the department of a civil war with a warning that it will “be no life” in Lebanon if the government tries to face or eliminate the militia supported by Iran, reports Reuters. The government wants to establish a control of weapons in line with the plan supported by the US to follow the Israel's campaign against Hezbollah, an organization that was set up four decades ago with the support of the revolutionary guards of Iran.
But the group resists pressures to disarm, claiming that this can take place until Israel withdraws from the southern area of Lebanon, which was a hezbollah.
“This is our nation, of all. We live in dignity together and together we build its sovereignty, but Lebanon will not have life if you join the other camp and try to face and eliminate us,” said the leader of the organization, Naim Qassem, in a televised speech.
Israel has hit hard Hezbollah in the last two years, killing many of the organization's leaders, including former leader Hassan Nasrallah, around 5,000 fighters and destroying much of the arsenal.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that Qassem's statements are a default threat to the civil war, which is “unacceptable”. “No Lebanon party is authorized to carry weapons, outside the Lebanese state frame,” Salam said in a post on X.
Hezbollah lost influence in Lebanon
The Lebanese cabinet asked the army last week to restrict the possession of the state security forces only, a decision that scandalized Hezbollah. Qassem has accused the government of implementing “an American-Israeli order to eliminate resistance, even if this leads to civil war and internal division.”
On the other hand, he said that Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, his orientation ally, decided to postpone any street protest as long as there is room for negotiations.
“There is still a maneuver for discussions, adjustments and for a political solution before the situation escalate to a confrontation that no one wants,” said Qassem. “But if we are required, we are prepared, we have no other option (…) At this point, there will be a protest in the street, in the whole Lebanon, which will reach the American Embassy,” said the leader Hezbolllah.
The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, who left parts of Lebanon in ruins, broke out in October 2023 when the group opened fire on Israeli positions along the South Border in solidarity with the Palestinian Hamas ally, at the beginning of the Gaza war.
Hezbollah and Amal still have political influence, designating the ministers who return to the government and control the Shiite mandates in the Parliament. But for the first time after many years, I no longer hold the “blocking third” from the stations in the office, which in the past gave them as a veto over the decisions of the Government.
Hezbollah has a continuation of solid support of the Shiite community in Lebanon, but the disarming calls from the rest of the society have been amplified.
