Hezbollah leader opposes disarmament amid pressure on Lebanon

The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Sheikh Naim Qassem, has argued that demands for the group’s disarmament would only serve Israeli interests on July 30th, according to The New Arab via Reuters.

This is following pressure from the US, where the Trump administration has increasingly aimed to influence the Lebanese government into agreeing to have the Iran-aligned militant group surrender its arms. In turn, this has led the Hezbollah group to also face internal pressure from its country.

The US is coercing Lebanon into making an official cabinet decision, which pledges to deliver the disarmament of Hezbollah, according to five sources informed of the matter, as reported by Reuters. The sources have also said that the US is pushing for this decision to be made before talks can continue on a halt to Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon.

Qassem addressed this publicly via television, stating that his group would not surrender to Israel, and that “those who call for submitting arms” were “practically demanding” to submit to Israel.

He went on to accuse US special envoy Thomas Barrack of pushing for disarmament not for the security and safety of Lebanon, but for the interests of Israel. Earlier this month, Barrack had met with officials of Lebanon in Beirut. This was to discuss the disarmament proposal, and it was confirmed that so long as Hezbollah surrendered its arms within four months, Israeli troops would withdraw from occupying multiple posts in southern Lebanon. Additionally, Israeli air strikes would no longer take place. Barrack has warned Lebanon that it risks marginalisation within the region, if it does not work to challenge the military strength of Hezbollah.

The Shia group’s war against Israel, caused the deaths of a lot of its leadership. The war saw the deaths of thousands of its fighters, whilst also leaving tens of thousands of followers of the group displaced from their homes, which were wrecked in the damaging process of the conflict.

Although in public Hezbollah has refused to give up all its arsenal, it has reportedly weighed scaling its weapons back, in private.

The New Arab via Reuters, Maghrebi.org