Hezbollah weapons seen as key to Lebanon’s sovereignty: Analysts

The discussion examines the situation in southern Lebanon amid the nominal ceasefire, focusing on the Israeli regime’s objectives, Hezbollah’s resistance, and growing pressure to disarm the movement. Political analysts Firas al‑Najim and Saeb Shaath join the review to frame the issue within a broader regional power struggle, with Hezbollah’s leader Sheikh Naim Qassem warning that disarmament could leave Lebanon vulnerable to further Israeli expansion. Al‑Najim argues that the Israeli regime is seeking to expand its control over Lebanon and weaken or disarm Hezbollah, but maintains that the resistance has repeatedly frustrated those objectives. He highlights Hezbollah’s role in ending the regime’s previous occupation of southern Lebanon and says the group remains determined to defend Lebanese sovereignty despite sanctions, internal pressure, and the assassination of its former leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Shaath, meanwhile, places the developments within a wider restructuring of the regional balance of power and a US-backed so-called “Greater Israel” project. He argues that the regime and the United States have failed to achieve their broader objectives despite extensive military aggression, while criticizing the Lebanese government for negotiating with the regime and the United States, which he says cannot act as a neutral mediator because Washington ultimately supports the Tel Aviv regime’s regional ambitions.