Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Sunday told Lebanon’s Al-Manar TV, which is affiliated with the Iranian-backed terrorist organization, that it had a “legitimate right” to possess weapons, despite the Nov. 26 truce deal with Israel requiring it to disarm.
“Possession of weapons is an inseparable part of our legitimate right to defend our homeland. Resistance is a legitimate right,” Qassem said in an interview. “The Lebanese state decides how it wants to act internally regarding the handling of weapons. Israel has nothing to do with it.”
“We say before the whole world that we will remain a resistance, even if we are left with only our fingernails or a stick, and we will not stop,” he said, according to a translation by Iran’s official Press TV outlet.
He warned Israel against expanding military operations in response to Hezbollah’s violations of the agreement, saying that the Israel Defense Forces’ goals “will not be achieved” because the terrorist organization has built a “fortress of power” since the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
Qassem also criticized the Lebanese government for failing to act on what the terrorist leader claimed were repeated Israeli violations of the truce.
“Ten months have passed since the agreement, and the state has not acted,” according to Qassem. “It must pressure, shout and take responsibility; this is a public experiment for everyone to see,” he added.
On Nov. 26, 2024, Israel and Lebanon signed a ceasefire deal aimed at ending more than a year of cross-border clashes between the IDF and Hezbollah. The Iranian-backed terror group began attacking the Jewish state in support of Hamas in the aftermath of its Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
Since the truce, the IDF has conducted frequent raids to stop Hezbollah from rebuilding infrastructure in Lebanon in violation of the ceasefire.
Qassem’s remarks came only four days after the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Akhbar newspaper reported that Jerusalem believes Beirut has failed to carry out its commitments to disarm the terrorist organization.
According to the news report, Lebanon was warned by “senior foreign political and security officials” that the conflict between Israel and the Iranian proxy had reached a “critical and very dangerous” junction.
The Jewish state “will not sit idly by for long in the face of failure,” it said.
Qassem has repeatedly rejected demands to disarm, warning in July that the group was “rebuilding, recovering and ready now” to take on Israel.
