Hezbollah supporters rioted in Beirut over the weekend following the signing of an agreement between Israel and Lebanon on Friday that aims to secure an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory and the disarmament of the Iran-backed terrorist group, according to Lebanese media reports and footage of the unrest.
What began as motorcycles driving through Beirut with Hezbollah and Iranian flags eventually turned into tire burnings, blocking off main roads, including those leading to Beirut’s airport, and the burning of signs calling on the prioritization of Lebanese sovereignty.
Posters leading to the airport, which previously read “Thank you Iran” but were changed to “Lebanon first” last week, were set alight.
While the agreement has been celebrated by several regional powers, including Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, Hezbollah has firmly rejected the deal as “null.”
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Saturday that the US-brokered agreement was a humiliating concession that undermined Lebanese sovereignty.
Hezbollah would not abide by the agreement
“We did not leave the battlefield in the most difficult circumstances, and we will not leave it,” he said, asserting that the terrorist group would not abide by the agreement and would continue its attacks in violation of Lebanon’s domestic laws.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the agreement allows Israeli forces to remain in southern Lebanon if Hezbollah fails to disarm, in line with a Lebanese law enacted in March prohibiting non-state actors from bearing arms.
Fadlallah: Agreement unenforceable without 'civil war'
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said Lebanese authorities would not be able to enforce the agreement unless “they go to civil war,” repeating similar threats made by Qassem in May.
According to LBCI, Fadlallah later complained that Beirut sold out the Lebanese citizens of the south by “absolving the occupation of its past and future crimes.”
“It is an authority that undermined the foundations of the state when it disavowed the constitution and the national charter and violated the laws. It practices political hypocrisy, lies, and falsification of facts and records.
“It thinks that with American support, it can disrupt national balances and marginalize an entire sect to manipulate the fate of the south and offer it as a free gift to Netanyahu, granting him legitimacy to shed our blood and occupy our land, and promising to disarm us,” he said.
“This is like Satan’s dream of paradise, because these people have nothing to do but rubber-stamp what is dictated to them by the enemy.
“If Netanyahu had wanted to write this agreement, he could not have written it in a better form than what those in power wrote with the American side. In return, this authority received nothing but Israeli praise and the applause of the normalizers.”
Lt.-Col. (res.) Sarit Zehavi, founder and president of the Alma Research and Education Center, previously told The Jerusalem Post that despite significant gains by Israel, the terror group and its supporters still have the power to destabilize Lebanon.
Hezbollah would confront any measure taken by Lebanese authorities and would hold on to its weapons even more, said Fadlallah, adding that the group’s opposition was “serious” and would not allow authorities to implement their commitments on the ground, according to Hezbollah-affiliated media site Al Mayadeen.
The issue of Lebanese sovereignty
The issue of Lebanese sovereignty has become increasingly contentious in recent months after Hezbollah renewed hostilities with Israel following the killing of Iran’s former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a decision that drew criticism from Lebanon’s political leadership.
The attacks from Hezbollah led to a renewed Israeli presence in Lebanon, forcing the displacement of around 20% of the country’s population, according to UN figures.
Iran’s attempts to include Lebanon in its Memorandum of Understanding with the United States were also broadly painted as further Iranian interference in Lebanese affairs.