
A Lebanese Forces sign in Jbeil, April 8, 2024. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
BEIRUT — The Lebanese Forces' Media Department criticized on Monday Hezbollah's Secretary-General Naim Qassem's speech on Saturday, describing it as "a coup" on the cease-fire agreement reached last November.
"Hezbollah continues to deny its approval of the cease-fire agreement that provides for the disarmament and dismantling of its military structure in all of Lebanon. In his recent speech, ... Naim Qassem declared that the resistance in Lebanon will remain resilient against the American-Israeli project and that it is steadfast, strong, ready and loyal to the blood of the martyrs to liberate the land, to liberate Palestine. This speech falls within the context of ... a coup against the arrangements that occurred on Nov. 27," read the LF statement relayed by the state-run National News Agency.
On Nov. 27, a cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel came into effect following more than 13 months of conflict that claimed more than 4,000 lives in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry's provisional death toll.
Earlier today, Hezbollah MP Ali Fayad, echoing Qassem's speech, warned that the party would not remain passive if Israel fails to withdraw from southern Lebanon by Jan. 26, the deadline for implementing the terms of the truce negotiated between the two sides.
The Lebanese Forces (LF), a party strongly critical of Hezbollah, added that Qassem's remarks "block Arab and international support for Lebanon at a critical moment as the Arab and international community returns to Beirut based on the new national climate that carries sovereign and reformist political principles, of which the cease-fire agreement is one of its main pillars."
"In complete disregard of what is stated in the introduction of the cease-fire agreement, Qassem repeated his erroneous statement that the agreement is exclusively south of the Litani River," the party said, emphasizing that the agreement clearly stipulates the "disarmament of all armed organizations in Lebanon with the exception of the legitimate armed forces and the dismantling of all Hezbollah military structure starting from south of the Litani to all of Lebanon.”
The party added that Qassem's remarks contradict President Joseph Aoun's oath speech in which the latter talked about "the state's monopoly on weapons as well as the speech of Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam regarding the extension of the state's sovereignty over all Lebanese territory in accordance with the Taif Agreement.
"Qassem's words in this sense belong to a phase that has ended," the LF statement concluded.