Screenshot of the interview with Hezbollah official Nawaf Moussaoui on March 4, 2025, on the al-Mayadeen channel.
Following an interview with former MP Nawaf Moussawi, who is responsible for the resources and borders file within Hezbollah, where he criticized the party's conduct during the war with Israel, the newspaper an-Nahar reported on Tuesday possible "severe disciplinary measures" being considered by Hezbollah's leadership against him. Contacted Wednesday by L'Orient-Le Jour, Moussawi formally denied this information, calling it "completely fabricated and baseless."
During the interview with pro-Hezbollah channel Al-Mayadeen, Moussawi stated that Hezbollah "was defeated [in the war against Israel] due to its own shortcomings," pointing out "tactical errors and flaws" of the party during the conflict.
Moussawi notably regretted the explosion of the party's communication devices — pagers and walkie-talkies that killed over 40 people, including a child, and injured over 2,900 on Sept. 17 and 18 — as well as the assassinations of Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine during unprecedented bombings in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sept. 27 and the night of Oct. 3 to 4, respectively. He attributed these "setbacks" to the party's own shortcomings, "not to Israel's intelligence."
Without specifying its sources, An-Nahar asserted that Moussawi might be facing suspension of his membership, revocation of his duties, or even permanent expulsion amid a "wave of discontent" that has shaken the party's ranks following these statements.
"Much of today's journalism, especially when making reports related to Hezbollah, is mere fabrication," Moussawi accused. "Hezbollah has repeatedly stated that if it wants to express itself on a topic, it does so itself by publishing a statement," he recalled, labeling the reports as "fabricated and baseless" aimed at "targeting me personally."
The newspaper explained that its information was "credible" given that Hezbollah had sanctioned Moussawi in the past. Moussawi resigned in July 2019 "at the party’s request" due to an "accumulation of mistakes," notably after an incident where he and other armed men fired at a police station amid a dispute between his daughter and his son-in-law.
‘Excessive proportions’
The same stance is echoed by a source close to Hezbollah, who claims the "An-Nahar information is inaccurate. Moussawi expressed a personal opinion, his own point of view," she stated. "We respect Nawaf Moussawi's opinion, even though we would have preferred the debate to remain internal until a definitive stance was adopted on the matter."
"In principle, no action has been taken. The issue has been blown out of proportion. What is reported in the media does not correspond to reality," the source concluded.
As for Ghaleb Abou Zeynab, a member of Hezbollah's political council, he declared during an interview on the Spot Shot platform on Tuesday that "with all due respect to Sayyed Nawaf Moussawi, his recent statements are merely personal appreciation and an individual interpretation." He added that "what transpired within the party was neither a failure nor a shortcoming, and our youth [in Hezbollah] did what they were supposed to do."