View of the Israeli strikes on Sunday on the heights of Iqlim al-Tuffah. (Photo provided by L'Orient Today's correspondent Muntasser Abdallah.)
BEIRUT — Strong words from Hezbollah, followed by a deadly escalation from Israel, with the Lebanese state caught between the two. In a speech on Saturday, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem announced, amid political discussion on the topic, that his party "will not allow anyone to disarm it."
President Joseph Aoun, leading talks with Hezbollah on its integration into the state security apparatus, had vowed to establish a state monopoly on weapons this year. Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam stood firm in light of Qassem's statements, advocating for a monopoly without a civil war. As for Israel, it responded with bloodshed, conducting a series of strikes on southern Lebanon on Sunday, the deadliest since February.
Saturday's speech also saw Qassem expressing his willingness to participate in a "dialogue on a comprehensive defense strategy" (but not on disarmament), provided that Israel "ceases its attacks" on Lebanon and withdraws from the South as stipulated by the cease-fire in effect since Nov. 27, 2024. He specified that "only President Joseph Aoun can define how and when the dialogue will take place."
"Disarming Hezbollah by force would provide a service to the enemy and only create dissension with the army," Qassem claimed. "You must remove disarmament from your vocabulary. We will not allow anyone to disarm 'the Resistance,' and we will confront and sever the hand of those who attack it and who want to disarm Hezbollah, just as we confronted Israel. There will be no surrender."
Qassem pointed out that the cease-fire agreement's stipulations about Hezbollah's weapons and position apply only to south of the LItani, where the Lebanese Army has expanded its deployment, and continues to do so. The defense strategy, Qassem said, "is not related to disarmament but constitutes a discussion on diplomatic, economic, and military levels, on a comprehensive defense policy."
On Friday, Wafic Safa, head of Hezbollah's liaison unit (and strongman of the radical wing within the party), initiated the discussion: "Wouldn't it make sense for Israel to first withdraw, release prisoners, then cease its aggressions [in Lebanon], and then we discuss a defense strategy?" he said in an interview with al-Nour radio, a station aligned with Hezbollah. "Disarmament is not on the table in current discussions," he insisted.
On Monday, Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah reiterated that the government should address other more "urgent" issues before tackling the "national defense strategy." Salam's Cabinet held a session on Thursday to examine the implementation of U.N. Resolution 1701 and discuss how the stat would go about achieving a monopoly on weapons.
Fadlallah explained tha he believes the government should prioritize four urgent issues: ending Israeli attacks, "expelling" the Israeli army from Lebanese territory, releasing Hezbollah prisoners "captured on the battlefield," and rebuilding villages destroyed during the war.
"Once these things are accomplished, we can talk about a defense strategy to protect our country's sovereignty," Fadlallah said. "While the Israeli enemy continues to kill, infiltrate, and target our country, some say to 'the Resistance': 'Come discuss your strength and your weapons,' without even condemning what the enemy is doing."
Israeli once again responds with deadly fire
On Sunday, the Israeli air force conducted a series of violent strikes on various areas in the Nabatieh region and the heights of Iqlim al-Tuffah, according to our correspondent in southern Lebanon.
These targeted bombings, carried out by drones, killed two people who Israel said were members of Hezbollah. Bombings also targeted areas between the villages of Bassalia and Jbaa, as well as Arnoun in Nabatieh district; the outskirts of Mlita and Jabal Safi, in the heights of Iqlim al-Tuffah; and Sojod, in Jezzine district.
The strikes were heard as far away as Saida and were described as among "the most violent" since mid-February. The strike on Arnoun injured a Lebanese soldier. The Israeli army claimed in the evening to have carried out strikes in the Nabatieh region against "missile launch platforms and military infrastructures" of Hezbollah, where "combatants were located."
Earlier on Sunday, two people were killed in Israeli army drone strikes on Kawthariyet al-Siyyad and Houla. The attack on the first village killed Hussein Ali Nasr and wounded two others. The Israeli army identified Nasr as the "deputy head of Hezbollah's Unit 4400," and claimed he "worked in arms and money smuggling to Lebanon to strengthen Hezbollah's military capabilities," specifically along the Lebanon-Syria border, as well as with "Iranian parties to transport weapons and money to Lebanon via Beirut international airport."
Hezbollah has not commented on Nasr's death or presumed role in the party. During its war against Hezbollah, the Israeli army claimed to have killed the leader of Unit 4400, Mohammad Jaafar Kassir, and his deputy, Ali Hassan Gharib.
In Houla, a drone strike targeted the courtyard of a house, according to our correspondent. The Israeli army announced the strike had targeted "the head of Hezbollah's engineering unit," to which Hezbollah has also not responded.
Amal 'stands behind the state'
The government of Lebanon continues to play the firefighter, reaffirming its commitment to the monopoly of weapons and to civil peace. Aoun described Hezbollah's disarmament as "fragile" on Sunday, following Easter Mass at Bkirki, but reaffirmed that it will eventually be "implemented."
"It is necessary to wait until circumstances allow," he said, adding that this matter should not be debated through the media or provocation. "What I said in my inauguration speech about the monopoly of weapons was not idle talk," he declared. He reiterated his call for dialogue, at a time when bilateral talks between Baabda and Haret Hreik have reportedly been launched. Salam recalled that "the Lebanese state alone has the decision-making power over war and peace and is the only party authorized to possess weapons."
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri accused Israel on Monday of wanting "to disrupt the country's serious commitment to implementing the cease-fire," and that he had "followed the development of the situation on the ground in the South in light of the ongoing Israeli aggression," according to a statement relayed by the state-run National News Agency.
On Saturday, Berri's Amal Movement commemorated the Qana massacre, when on April 18, 1996, the Israeli army bombed a U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) base in southern Lebanon where around 800 civilians had sought refuge. The attack killed 106 people. During the commemoration, the movement's local representative, Ali Ismail, emphasized the importance of "aligning with the state, government, and army."
The transitional phase in which Lebanon currently finds itself, is "an opportunity for the state's institutions to fulfill their duty and press the Israeli enemy to withdraw from our land, which we will not allow to remain under occupation," Ismail said. He insisted that the Amal Movement is not "an alternative to the state," adding that when the movement's former leader Moussa Sadr founded Amal (in 1974), it was due to "the state's inability to defend its people, Lebanese land, and its South, and to fully assume its responsibilities."
"Since the state announced its willingness to fulfill its duty, we are waiting for it to do so along with all its institutions," he said.
Naim Qassem, Walid Joumblatt: Undiplomatic taunts from Ortagus
American deputy envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus made headlines again when she indirectly criticized Qassem's comments on disarmament on Saturday. "Yawn," she wrote on X, reposting a publication by an Israeli national and activist residing in New York who reiterated Qassem's statements on the subject during his latest speech a bit earlier.
The diplomat had stated, following her recent visit to Beirut, that "Hezbollah is like a cancer that needs to be eradicated if Lebanon is to recover." In another "flamboyant move" that was also widely commented on social media, Ortagus also criticized Druze leader Walid Jumblatt in a second message on X on Saturday.
Responding to a publication by analyst David Daoud of the Washington-based "Foundation for Defense of Democracies," which included excerpts from an interview with the former Progressive Socialist Party leader, Ortagus commented: "Crack [the drug], it's bad, Walid." In the interview, Jumblatt reacted to the conditions set by the U.S. envoy for unlocking aid to Lebanon, stating that the U.S. position could lead the country into civil war.
The Druze leader immediately responded with one of his famous word plays. On X, he referenced the 1960s American film, "The Ugly American," which criticizes the failures of American diplomacy at that time, adding the hashtag Morgan Ortagus. The post was accompanied by an image of a soldier embraced by a skeleton in a uniform.
Reporting contributed by L'Orient Today's correspondent in the South, Muntasser Abdallah.
