Illustrative image.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said on July 5 that his group would not surrender or lay down its weapons, including missiles, despite facing threats from Israel and increasing pressure from the United States.
“This threat will not make us accept surrender,” Qassem said in a televised speech during the Shiite Muslim religious commemoration of Ashura.
The leader emphasized that the group’s fighters would not abandon their weapons and asserted that Israel’s “aggression” must first stop.
“How can you expect us not to stand firm while the Israeli enemy continues its aggression, continues to occupy the five points, and continues to enter our territories and kill?” Qassem said. “We will not be part of legitimizing the occupation in Lebanon and the region. We will not accept normalization [with Israel].”
“America’s equation asking us to choose between being killed or surrender does not concern us and we will cling to our rights,” the leader added in his speech.
In response to those who ask why the group needs its missile arsenal, Qassem said: “How can we confront Israel when it attacks us if we didn’t have them? Who is preventing Israel from entering villages and landing and killing young people, women and children inside their homes unless there is a resistance with certain capabilities capable of minimal defense?”
The remarks came as the Lebanese government is awaiting Hezbollah’s answer to a proposal raised by United States envoy Tom Barrack that requires the group to disarm.
Disarmament would end Israeli strikes on Lebanon and unlock funds to rebuild parts of the country destroyed by Israeli forces last year, sources with knowledge of the proposal told Reuters. It would also include Israel pulling out of five strategic posts in southern Lebanon, according to the Associated Press.
Barrack is supposed to arrive in Beirut on July 7. During the visit, Lebanese authorities are expected to deliver the response of Hezbollah.
Israel could use Hezbollah’s refusal to disarm as a pretext to renew the war on Lebanon. The group is likely well aware of this. It is unclear however if it will be able to put on an effective resistance.
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hezbollah is already a “dead man walking”…heheheh
leone nascente sei una scoreggia perdente di un culo sfondato giudeo !
lol, we all saw how many missiles got through israeli aa once it saturated.
nah. theyll keep them.
one day, the whole m.e. will uniformly mag dump on tel aviv