Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem addressed the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons in an interview which aired on Sunday night on Al-Manar TV, a channel affiliated with the terrorist organization.
“Possessing weapons is an inseparable part of our legitimate right to defend our homeland. Resistance is a legitimate right. The Lebanese state decides how it wants to operate internally regarding the handling of weapons. Israel has nothing to do with this,” said Qassem.
Qassem emphasized, “If the Lebanese army does not have the capacity to confront [attacks] alone, there must be popular resistance to face the assaults alongside the army. There must be coordination between the army and the resistance to stand against this. But no one has the right to say, ‘Let’s give up the weapons to remove the excuse’ - why should we disarm and then wait for the aggression to return? First stop the attacks, then we’ll talk about the weapons issue.”
Lebanon’s cabinet recently tasked the army with formulating a plan for disarming Hezbollah by the end of 2025.
Qassem condemned the Lebanese government's plan to disarm the terror organization and has repeatedly vowed that Hezbollah would keep its arms.
In Sunday’s interview, the Hezbollah leader also commented on the attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea during the war, claiming: “The strike on Netanyahu’s home was deliberate, whether to harm him or his residence. The target was the house, not specifically the bedroom. It was an intelligence and operational achievement because he was hit.”
Qassem further claimed, “One of the operatives on the ground had the map and knew the layout. He informed his superior and said, ‘If you have an idea to strike this location, I can prepare the exact coordinates to hit it.’ He received approval and carried out the attack.”
He also revealed in the interview: “I refused to leave Lebanon for Iran during the Israeli aggression because no one could lead except from the field, and remaining was a religious and moral obligation.”