Hezbollah Secretary-General Naïm Kassem delivering a speech on November 11, 2025. Screenshot/Al-Manar
Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem on Tuesday denounced pressure from the United States on Lebanon, which he accused of trying to push the country into making concessions to Israel without receiving anything in return. In a speech broadcast on the party's channel, al-Manar, he reaffirmed that his group "will not abandon its weapons."
Washington is demanding that the Lebanese government disarm Hezbollah, which was weakened at the end of November 2024 after a yearlong conflict with Israel, and is also seeking to cut off the party's sources of funding.
"The U.S. ... is putting pressure on the government to make concessions without anything in return and without guarantees ... and wants to give Israel free rein," Qassem stated. "The government's role is not to listen to American dictates and start implementing them," he added, accusing "the United States and Israel of meddling in Lebanon's future" and seeking "to neutralize the country's ability to resist and equip the Lebanese Army, only for the sake of containing the resistance and not to face the Israeli enemy."
A U.S. Treasury Department delegation met with Lebanese officials on Sunday and Monday. The U.S. administration is "very serious" in its intent "to cut off Iran's funding" to Hezbollah, said John Hurley, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, on Monday.
According to the U.S. Treasury, Iran has transferred more than one billion dollars to Hezbollah in Lebanon since January 2025, notably via currency exchange offices. A Lebanese official who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP that the delegation had demanded “concrete actions” from the Lebanese authorities. The U.S. also required the state to "fight against money laundering, the cash economy, and the closure of al-Qard al-Hassan," a financial institution linked to Hezbollah and sanctioned by the U.S., which grants dollar loans in exchange for gold deposits.
"The Americans talk about drying up sources of funding — what does that have to do with the social situation, with al-Qard al-Hassan and all the services it provides to people?" Qassem questioned.
'New pretexts'
The secretary general again insisted that Hezbollah will not abandon its weapons, asserting that Israeli aggression cannot last indefinitely. "We are not going to abandon our weapons, which give us strength and determination," he declared. Despite the cease-fire, Israel continues its strikes in Lebanon, claiming to target Hezbollah, which it accuses of rearming, and is maintaining six positions it deems "strategic" in South Lebanon.
"Israel wants to control Lebanon politically and economically, and to turn it into a backyard for the expansion of its settlements as part of the Greater Israel project," he continued, noting that the Israeli state kills civilians in their homes, destroys houses, razes land, prevents displaced people from returning home, and forbids normal life in the villages. "According to the [United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon] UNIFIL's spokesperson, Israel has committed more than 7,000 violations, while Hezbollah has recorded none in its area of operations. Some claim the problem lies in Lebanon, when in fact the real problem is in Israel," Qassem noted.
Also singling out the "servants of Israel who do not defend their own citizens and do not condemn its aggressions," the pro-Iranian party leader addressed those he called the "free men," asking them "why the government doesn't establish a timetable to restore national sovereignty and require security forces to implement it." "Israel is invoking new pretexts to continue its aggression, such as rearmament and financing," Qassem further said, adding that the Israeli state "is the loser in this agreement because it has withdrawn."
'Aggression cannot last indefinitely'
Qassem reiterated his version of the cease-fire agreement. "We, Hezbollah, say that the cease-fire agreement exclusively concerns south of the Litani River, and that Israel must withdraw from Lebanon and release the prisoners," he said. "There is no question of replacing the agreement, nor of absolving the occupier of all responsibility through a new agreement. The agreement must first be implemented; only then will all avenues be open for an internal discussion on Lebanon's strength and sovereignty," he stated, arguing that outsiders have nothing to do with this debate.
"Aggression cannot last indefinitely — there is a limit to everything," he stressed again. He went on to say that Hezbollah "faces a real existential danger," and that is its "right to take all measures necessary to protect [its] existence." "The threat will not dissuade us from defending our dignity, and we will not leave the future of our generations in the hands of the arrogant," he said. "We will not abandon our weapons, which allow us to defend our land and our people. We will not bow down and will not withdraw from the field," he concluded, claiming "victory, either by triumph or by martyrdom," and saluting "the Palestinian people, Iran, as well as Yemen and Iraq."
Qassem was speaking on the occasion of Martyrs' Day, "in memory of the pioneer of martyrdom operations, Ahmad Kassir." Kassir carried out a suicide bombing on Nov. 11, 1982, five months after the Israeli invasion; that date has since become Martyrs' Day for the Islamic Resistance.
At the time, he was 18 years old. He drove his car, rigged with explosives, into the Israeli military governor's residence, the Azmi building in Sour. The building was home to the military headquarters and was near an Israeli military camp in the Jal al-Bahr area. Several Israeli soldiers and a senior intelligence official were killed.
This operation is considered the starting point of the resistance's operations. Hence the Martyrs' Day slogan, "When we are martyrs, we are victorious," inspired by the words of the former leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by the Israeli army on Sept. 27, 2024, in a bombing of Beirut's southern suburbs.
Humanitarian convoy reaches Rmeish, Ain Ibl, Dibil despite obstacles
