Naim Qassem: Hezbollah Rejects Israeli and American Threats, Affirms Readiness for Peace and Confrontation

Hezbollah's Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, affirmed on Sunday, July 6, during a televised speech on the occasion of Ashura, that Israeli threats will not force the party to "surrender" or disarm, amidst ongoing American pressure to disarm.

Qassem stated: "These threats do not make us accept surrender, they do not tell us to soften our positions, but they tell the aggressors to stop... they do not tell us to lay down our arms". He added: "We will not be part of legitimizing the occupation in Lebanon and the region. We will not accept normalization, which is a concession and humiliation, and those who normalize will see negative results from Israel and America. We are custodians of the trust, we will continue and confront".

He also emphasized that "the aggression, killing, and Israeli-American crimes must stop. Israel is the problem, not the resistance. The resistance is one of the solutions, while Israel's existence remains a real crisis".

Regarding political solutions, Qassem clarified that Hezbollah is "facing two stages: agreement and implementation of Resolution 1701, our position is that we are in favor of completing the first stage and implementing the agreement, then we become ready to implement the resolution. We have flexibility to reach an agreement".

On another note, Hezbollah criticized what it described as the "American surrender document", presented by the US envoy Thomas Barrack during his visit to Beirut on June 19. The document includes key points, the most prominent being:

1.      Disarming Hezbollah, especially ballistic missiles and attack drones, within six months, considering light and medium weapons as an internal matter.

2.      Financial and economic reforms, including closing party financial institutions like "Al-Qard Al-Hassan", and imposing strict control on border crossings.

3.      Improving relations with Syria and demarcating borders with Israel, including considering Shebaa Farms as Syrian territory.

4.      Linking reconstruction to implementing the disarmament clause.

5.      Linking the release of Lebanese prisoners to completing disarmament.

6.      Allowing Hezbollah to continue politically on the condition of abandoning independent armed action.

7.      Setting a two-month deadline to present an implementation plan for disarmament, with a warning of Israeli military operations in case of non-compliance.

Qassem concluded his speech by saying: "We do not accept living in Lebanon in a big prison", affirming the party's readiness for all possibilities, whether peaceful or confrontational.