Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem claimed on Saturday that the American proposal to end the war in Gaza is part of a scheme by Jerusalem to forge a “Greater Israel.”
The leader of the Iran-backed terrorist organization in Lebanon said that U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan “was modified to align with Israel’s interests,” adding that the Jewish state “is working toward the Greater Israel plan and the U.S. is fully assisting it.”
The “Greater Israel” conspiracy theory claims that Zionists or the Israeli government secretly aim to expand Israel’s borders far beyond current lines—sometimes from the Nile to the Euphrates—by controlling or annexing large parts of the Middle East.
Qassem was speaking at an event commemorating a year since Hezbollah terrorist commanders Nabil Qaouk and Suhail Husseini were killed by Israeli airstrikes on Sept. 28 and Oct. 7, 2024, respectively.
“In fact, this plan is a plan full of dangers,” the terrorist leader said. “It is Israel’s project, which it seeks to achieve through politics after failing to achieve it through military action, aggression, genocide and famine.”
The situation in Lebanon remains volatile following the expiration of the Israel-Hezbollah truce on Feb. 18. The Iranian-backed terror group began firing missiles and drones at Israel a day after the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, and the Nov. 27, 2024, ceasefire brought an end to more than a year of fighting.
Although Jerusalem has withdrawn most of its ground forces since the war ended, it still controls five strategic sites in Southern Lebanon. Israeli officials have stated that the IDF will retain these positions until the Lebanese army demonstrates it can maintain security.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi said on Sept. 9 that the country’s armed forces will have fully disarmed Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon within three months.
Last week, Qassem said that Hezbollah will not lay down its arms, in a public show of defiance against the Lebanese army’s plan.
In response, U.S. President Donald Trump has approved $230 million in funding for Lebanon’s security forces, Reuters reported on Friday, citing sources in Washington and Beirut. The package reportedly includes $190 million for the Lebanese Armed Forces and $40 million for the Internal Security Forces.
In an email, a State Department spokesperson said the assistance would support the effort “to assert Lebanese sovereignty across the country and fully implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, the only viable framework for a durable security arrangement for both Lebanese and Israelis.”
The U.N. resolution, adopted in the aftermath of the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, calls for the terror proxy to disarm and withdraw from Southern Lebanon, with the Lebanese army and the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) tasked with securing the area.
