Hezbollah vows to keep arms, says Lebanon's disarmament plan serves
Israel
[August 15, 2025]
By BASSEM MROUE
BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group on Friday
vowed not to disarm, saying last week's decision by the national
government to remove the Iran-backed group's weapons by the end of the
year serves Israel’s interests.
Naim Kassem said the government’s decision to remove “the defensive
weapons of the resistance, its people and Lebanon during an aggression”
facilitates the killing of “resistance fighters and their families and
evict them from their land and homes.”
He said the government should have instead “spread its authority and
evicted Israel from Lebanon.” Speaking in a televised speech to mark a
Shiite religious event, he added “the government is serving the Israeli
project.”
Kassem added if the ongoing crisis leads to an internal conflict, the
government is to blame. He noted that Hezbollah and its Shiite ally, the
Amal movement, did not to ask their supporters to protest in the streets
to give way for more discussions. The Amal movement was one of the main
armed groups in Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war and is now a powerful
political party led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
But, he said if a decision is taken to protest in the streets,
protesters “will be all over Lebanon and head to the U.S. embassy.” He
did not elaborate.
Hezbollah’s weapons have been a major dividing point in Lebanon with
some groups that are opposed to Hezbollah saying only the state should
be allowed to have arms.
The Lebanese government voted last week for a U.S.-backed plan to disarm
Hezbollah by the end of the year and implement a ceasefire with Israel.
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Hezbollah supporters chant slogans as they gather to welcome Ali
Larijani, head of Iran's National Security Council, outside Rafik
Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13,
2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
The small Mediterranean country has been under international
pressure to get Hezbollah to lay down its arms since the 14-month
war with Israel that ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in
November.
However, the Hezbollah leader said his group will only discuss a
national defense strategy over its weapons once Israel withdraws
from Lebanon and stops its almost daily airstrikes that have killed
scores of Hezbollah members since the war's end.
“The resistance will not hand over its weapons as the aggression
continues and occupation remains,” Kassem said, adding that the
group will fight a long battle if needed.
The Israel-Hezbollah war weakened the Iran-backed group and left
much of its military and political leadership dead. The war killed
more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, displaced over 1 million and
caused destruction that the World Bank said will cost $11 billion in
reconstruction.
After the war ended, Israeli forces stayed in five overlooking
locations inside Lebanon.
Israel has accused Hezbollah of trying to rebuild its military
capabilities. Israel’s military has said the five locations in
Lebanon provide vantage points or are located across from
communities in northern Israel, where about 60,000 Israelis were
displaced during the war.
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