Araghchi during a meeting with Qassem: Tehran wants 'to help and support' Lebanon

BEIRUT — Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during the latter’s visit to Lebanon, the group said in a statement Wednesday, without specifying when the meeting occurred.

The location was, of course, kept secret, as Qassem has not appeared in public since the beginning of the war between Hezbollah and Israel in October 2023, and his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, who had also been in hiding for years, was killed by Israel in a series of devastating strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sept.27, 2024.

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The meeting between Araghchi and Qassem took place in the presence of the Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, while the Iranian minister had informed Beirut the day before that Lebanon "could count on Iran in its efforts to oust Israel from Lebanon, and that Iranian companies were ready to participate in the reconstruction if the Lebanese government wishes."

Tehran wants 'to help and support Lebanon'

According to the text, the participants in the meeting "discussed the situation in the region", where Hezbollah and Iran are part of the so-called "resistance" axis against Israel, particularly with Hamas and the Yemeni Houthi rebels. An axis that has been significantly weakened in recent months.

Araghchi in this context stressed "the importance of bilateral relations with Lebanon and the interest of the Islamic Republic of Iran in helping Lebanon and supporting it in the economic, political, and social fields based on mutual respect and strengthening cooperation between the two countries."

Qassem thanked Tehran for its "constant support to the Lebanese people and their resistance" and praised "the importance of Iran's positive role in the region and its support for the Palestinian resistance and its people." The Secretary-General further insisted on the "hard work of Hezbollah to advance Lebanon, ensure its stability and sovereignty, and expel [Israeli] occupation from its territories."

The Israeli army still occupies five positions it considers "strategic" in southern Lebanon, along the Blue Line, and almost daily violates the cease-fire agreement by bombing the south of the country, the Bekaa, or, more rarely, the southern suburbs of Beirut, since the start of the truce on Nov. 27, 2024. For its part, Lebanon continues to deploy its army south of the Litani, a river that delineates a strip of land several kilometers deep along the border and dismantle Hezbollah's infrastructure in this area.

In this regard, and while the thorny issue of disarming Hezbollah has been debated for months in Lebanon, Araghchi stated Tuesday that Tehran "supports national dialogue" in Lebanon on this matter and that "the withdrawal of Hezbollah's weapons is a Lebanese decision."

So far, Hezbollah has claimed only one mortar fire on an Israeli position at the very start of the truce, on December 1, and has not conducted any operation against Israel or its positions in Lebanese territory since.