DistantNews
Support us
🇮🇱 Israel /Conflict & Security

Hezbollah chief downplays calls to disarm terror group, praises FPV drone attacks

From Jerusalem Post · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Sources not specified New plan
  • Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem rejected calls for the group's disarmament, stating it would leave Lebanon vulnerable to extermination.
  • Qassem praised Hezbollah's use of FPV drones against Israel and criticized the U.S. for managing Israel's interests rather than acting as an honest mediator.
  • He outlined conditions for Lebanon's progress, including confronting Israeli aggression, uniting factions, and achieving a full Israeli withdrawal.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem firmly rejected any notion of disarming the group, framing it as a path to Lebanon's "extermination." Speaking on "Resistance and Liberation Day," he argued that Hezbollah's weapons are essential for Lebanon's defense and the resistance's capability. He declared that disarmament is unacceptable and would leave the nation defenseless against its perceived enemies.

There is no such thing as exclusivity of weapons or disarming Hezbollah.

· Naim QassemRejecting calls for the group's disarmament.

Qassem also lauded Hezbollah's recent use of first-person view (FPV) drones, claiming they have "dizzy" Israeli forces and citing several attacks on IDF soldiers, though he acknowledged conflicting reports on casualties. He specifically denounced the United States, asserting it is not an honest mediator but rather an entity that "manages Israel according to its interests." He criticized U.S. sanctions against Hezbollah officials and other Shi'ite figures.

Disarmament is extermination, and this is something we cannot accept.

· Naim QassemExplaining the perceived danger of Hezbollah disarming.

He laid out four key premises for Lebanon's advancement: recognizing Israel as an "expansionist enemy," fostering unity among Lebanese factions to counter Israeli "aggression," preventing internal strife, and achieving a complete Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. Qassem also called for the deployment of the Lebanese military south of the Litani River, the return of Hezbollah "prisoners," and infrastructure reconstruction.

Hezbollah's first-person view (FPV) drones, which he said made Israel 'dizzy.'

· Naim QassemPraising the effectiveness of the group's drone attacks.

Qassem further rejected direct negotiations between Beirut and Jerusalem, advising Lebanese factions to engage indirectly with the U.S. He also criticized the Lebanese government's perceived inability to secure sovereignty, suggesting it should step down if incapable. The speech commemorated the IDF's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000, which Qassem hailed as the "first liberation in the Arab region without an agreement with the Israeli entity."

The United States... manages Israel according to its interests.

· Naim QassemCriticizing the U.S. role in the Israeli-Lebanese conflict.
About this summary

Originally published by Jerusalem Post in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog