Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem denounced the concept of the terrorist group’s disarmament during his Resistance and Liberation Day speech on Monday.
“There is no such thing as exclusivity of weapons or disarming Hezbollah,” he said.
The Lebanese holiday commemorates the IDF’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon on May 25, 2000.
Hezbollah’s disarmament would remove Lebanon’s “defensive capability and the capability of the resistance and its people, as a prelude to extermination,” Qassem said.
“Disarmament is extermination, and this is something we cannot accept,” he said.
Israel’s withdrawal was the “first liberation that took place in the Arab region without an agreement with the Israeli entity,” he added.
Hezbollah’s first-person view (FPV) drones have made Israel “dizzy,” Qassem said, citing several attacks against IDF soldiers. The attacks had killed several officers, he said, naming them. According to the IDF, those officers had been wounded.
US not an honest actor due to Israel ties, Hezbollah chief says
Qassem denounced the United States, which he said is not a mediator, nor an honest actor, but it “manages Israel according to its interests.”
During the anti-US portion of his address, he criticized Washington’s sanctions on Hezbollah members of the Lebanese Parliament, on the Iranian ambassador in Lebanon (whom Beirut declared persona non grata), and on other Shi’ite officials.
Qassem said there were four premises that must be in place before Hezbollah and Lebanon could proceed: First, Israel is “an expansionist enemy that wants all of Lebanon and the region”; Second, all Lebanese factions must unite to confront Israel’s “aggression”; Third, all Lebanese factions should prevent internal strife and work toward stability; Fourth, they must stop Israeli “aggression,” achieve a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, deploy the Lebanese military south of the Litani River, return Hezbollah “prisoners,” and reconstruct their infrastructure.
“If the [Lebanese] government is incapable of securing sovereignty, it should leave,” he said. He called for demonstrations against the government if they do not agree to Hezbollah’s terms.
Qassem rejected direct negotiations between Beirut and Jerusalem.
“I advise you: Leave direct negotiations and act coy toward the US,” he said. “Tell them: ‘Stop asking us for anything.’ Then they will run to you and beg you to come.”
Regarding sanctions placed on Hezbollah-run al-Qard al-Hassan, Qassem said Hezbollah has no connection with the financial institution, which just “gives loans to those in need.”
Palestine to remain Hezbollah's 'compass,' Qassem says
Qassem denounced the assassination of Izz ad-Din al-Haddad, head of the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, the so-called military wing of Hamas; and the seizure of the Global Sumud Flotilla by the Israel Navy.
“Palestine will remain the compass” for Hezbollah’s policies, he said. “We will remain supportive and backing.”
Regarding the Israeli and US airstrikes against Iran as part of operations Roaring Lion and Epic Fury, Qassem said: “They attack. The aggression is clear before the whole world. The Islamic Republic will succeed in defending itself from this aggression.”
Qassem denounced Bahrain and its arrest of activists linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“What is the king of Bahrain doing?” he asked. “Forty-one scholars and opinion leaders are thrown into prisons because they have a cultural and intellectual direction; they have a political direction, and an opinion.”
“Bahrain must return to its senses and release the detainees, because injustice does not continue and does not settle,” he added.
Rubio condemns Hezbollah for call to overthrow Lebanese government
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned Hezbollah following its call on Sunday for the overthrow of the Lebanese government.
“Hezbollah has ignored repeated calls from the legitimate government of Lebanon to cease its attacks and respect a ceasefire,” he said. “Instead, it has continued firing on Israeli positions and moving fighters and weapons into southern Lebanon.”
Rubio accused Hezbollah of “actively trying to drag Lebanon back into chaos and destruction.”
The US stands behind the Lebanese government, he said.