Naim Qassem Rejects Hezbollah Disarmament in Lebanon, Rejecting UN Security Council Resolution 1701

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem rejected any disarmament of Hezbollah in Lebanon, dismissing an end to the “resistance” as “the dream of Iblis of entering paradise.”

In a statement carried by the Beirut daily Al-Akhbar, Qassem rejected placing the party’s arsenal under supervision and framed the issue as a refusal addressed to American emissaries, the State of Israel, and Lebanese voices advocating supervision.

26 September Net

The dispute is tied to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006, which Western chancelleries say requires the exclusive transfer of weapons to the Lebanese army south of the Litani River.

Africtelegraph also links the hardening to sustained diplomatic pressure on Beirut since the autumn 2024 war and a ceasefire reached in November of the same year with Israel.

The same account says Qassem closes the sequence opened by American envoy Amos Hochstein’s missions and steps taken since the Trump administration’s return, with the new U.S. diplomatic team demanding Hezbollah’s disarmament as a condition for stabilizing southern Lebanon and unlocking international aid.

Sheikh Na'im Qassem condemned Washington’s declaration on Lebanon and called direct talks a “farce,” saying the declaration sets out “the fundamental principles by which the United States and Israel seek to subject Lebanon to the project of the Greater Israel.”

In a message carried by ISM-France, he rejected ongoing direct negotiations and reaffirmed the Resistance’s commitment to continue the fight until Israel’s total withdrawal, insisting that making disarmament the main objective of any agreement would strip Lebanon of strength.

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He also told fighters that “Arms and the resistance concern no one outside Lebanon” and warned, “We will not surrender and will turn the battle into hell for Israel,” as Lebanon and Israel were to hold a third round of negotiations in Washington on Thursday.

BFM says Qassem reiterated a call for “a withdrawal from direct negotiations, which benefit only Israel and constitute concessions without compensation made by the Lebanese authorities.”

JForum adds that Hezbollah officially rejected the ceasefire plan agreed between the Lebanese and Israeli governments during talks mediated by the United States, even after the American announcement that the agreement was conditioned on Hezbollah stopping its fire and withdrawing its fighters from border areas.

Qassem’s position ties any ceasefire to Israel’s withdrawal and the Lebanese army’s deployment south of the Litani River, with ISM-France saying he insisted the ceasefire “must be global,” with no “distinction between southern Lebanon and the rest of the country.”

“Hezbollah's top leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, reaffirmed the Lebanese Shiite movement's uncompromising stance on the issue of weapons”

Africtelegraph

In the same account, he laid out essential conditions including “the withdrawal of Israeli occupying forces from Lebanese territory” and “the deployment of the Lebanese army south of the Litani River,” while also demanding the release of prisoners.

JForum reports that Israeli officials said Hezbollah was not a party to negotiations involving only Israel, Lebanon, and the United States, aimed at demilitarizing southern Lebanon and disarming the Iran-backed Shiite group.

BFM says the strikes continued after a ceasefire announced by President Donald Trump, and it states that “have killed at least 380 since April 17,” while also citing a clause under the ceasefire that Israel reserves “the right to take, at any time, all necessary measures in legitimate defense.”

Across the accounts, Qassem frames the stakes as whether Lebanon will accept a link between stopping aggression and disarming the Resistance, with ISM-France saying he rejected any linkage and warned that a proposal conditioning withdrawal on disarmament would leave Lebanon “at the mercy of the enemy.”