Hezbollah rejects disarmament, accuses US of advancing Israeli interests

BEIRUT, Lebanon (MNTV) — Hezbollah has rejected growing calls from the United States and regional actors, including Lebanon’s president, to surrender its weapons, with the group’s deputy leader Naim Qassem asserting that such demands only serve Israeli interests and undermine Lebanon’s sovereignty.

“Those who ask us to hand over our arms are essentially asking us to surrender to Israel,” Qassem said during a televised address marking the first anniversary of the Israeli assassination of senior commander Fuad Shukr. “We will not submit to Israel.”

The comments come amid renewed international pressure on the Lebanese government to adopt a formal stance on Hezbollah’s disarmament.

According to officials who spoke to Reuters, Washington is pressing Beirut to issue a cabinet-level decision to begin disarming the group—framing it as a prerequisite for resuming negotiations on halting Israeli military operations in the country.

Qassem insisted that Hezbollah’s weapons were a strictly domestic matter. “Calls for disarmament—be they local, regional, or international—are part of the Israeli agenda,” he said, warning that demands to dismantle Hezbollah’s missile and drone capabilities were being pushed by the US because they pose a threat to Israel.

He further accused US Special Envoy Thomas Barrack of advancing Israeli interests under the guise of peace. “Their problem is not with weapons, but with the fact that these weapons scare Israel,” Qassem said.

Hezbollah emerged from last year’s conflict significantly weakened, having lost thousands of fighters and much of its senior leadership.

The war left large parts of southern Lebanon in ruins and displaced tens of thousands of civilians, many of whom remain unable to return home.

Under a ceasefire brokered in November 2024, Hezbollah was expected to withdraw its fighters north of the Litani River, leaving the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers as the only armed forces in the border region.

Israel, in turn, was to withdraw from five contested positions in southern Lebanon. However, Israeli troops remain in place, and air strikes have continued despite the truce.

In early July, Barrack visited Beirut to present a disarmament proposal offering Israeli withdrawal in exchange for Hezbollah’s complete disarmament within four months. Lebanese officials familiar with the discussions said the US proposal was met with resistance.

Qassem stressed that the ceasefire applied only to areas south of the Litani and reaffirmed Hezbollah’s stance that its weapons are not part of any agreement with Israel.

“The Israeli aggression must stop. All political efforts should be focused on ending this aggression—not on surrendering our weapons,” he said.

Lebanese authorities, considered close to the US, are reportedly under mounting international and regional pressure to declare Hezbollah’s disarmament a national policy.

A senior Lebanese official, speaking anonymously, confirmed that foreign envoys had urged the government to formalize such a decision during upcoming cabinet discussions.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has called a cabinet meeting next week to address issues related to national sovereignty, security, and the ceasefire’s implementation. According to sources, the session will also include a review of Ambassador Barrack’s latest proposals.

Hezbollah, however, maintains that any negotiations on its arsenal must wait until Israel ends its violations of Lebanese territory. “Let Israel withdraw first,” Qassem said. “Only then can we begin to talk.”