{"id":1826,"date":"2025-07-19T06:50:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T06:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/07\/19\/hezbollah-says-it-will-not-give-up-weapons-despite-us-proposal\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T06:50:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T06:50:04","slug":"hezbollah-says-it-will-not-give-up-weapons-despite-us-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/07\/19\/hezbollah-says-it-will-not-give-up-weapons-despite-us-proposal\/","title":{"rendered":"Hezbollah says it will not give up weapons despite US proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Knockback deals potential blow to US diplomat Thomas Barrack\u2019s efforts to press on with \u2018go-forward plan\u2019 for Israel-Lebanon peace.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem appeared to dismiss a proposal that his group disarm, as presented by the United States to Lebanon\u2019s leadership last month.<\/p>\n

Qassem argued on Friday that the Israeli army would expand in Lebanon if there was no \u201cresistance\u201d in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not surrender or give up to Israel; Israel will not take our weapons away from us,\u201d he said in a video message.<\/p>\n

Qassem\u2019s comments dealt a potential blow to US diplomat Thomas Barrack\u2019s efforts<\/a> last month to secure a deal between Lebanon and Israel that would involve disarmament of the Lebanese armed group.<\/p>\n

Barrack, Washington\u2019s ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy to Syria, had declared he was \u201cunbelievably satisfied\u201d earlier this month after receiving a response to his proposals from the Lebanese authorities, adding that a \u201cgo-forward plan\u201d was in the works.<\/p>\n

Lebanese leaders who took office after more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah have promised a state monopoly on bearing arms, while demanding Israel adhere to a ceasefire with the group reached last November.<\/p>\n

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said in an interview with Al Jadeed TV on Friday that fear of Israeli escalation was warranted, but that the US proposal was\u00a0an \u201copportunity\u201d that could lead to Israel\u2019s withdrawal.<\/p>\n

Salam acknowledged Hezbollah\u2019s weapons played a leading role in liberating South Lebanon from Israel in 2000, but insisted that they must now be under the command of the Lebanese state.<\/p>\n

Qassem, however, said Lebanon is facing an existential danger that should be prioritised over the issue of giving the state monopoly over using weapons.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter we address that danger, we are ready to discuss a defence strategy or a national security strategy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hezbollah claims the Lebanese armed forces have failed to confront Israeli abuses since Israel\u2019s inception in 1948.<\/p>\n

\u2018Ready for a defensive confrontation\u2019<\/h2>\n

Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back north of the Litani River, some 30km (18 miles) from the Israeli frontier.<\/p>\n

Israel was to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, but has kept them deployed in five areas that it deemed strategic and has breached the ceasefire<\/a> on a near-daily basis with deadly strikes.<\/p>\n

Israel dealt Hezbollah significant blows in last year\u2019s war, assassinating its leader, Hassan Nasrallah<\/a>, along with other commanders and destroying much of its arsenal.<\/p>\n

Qassem appeared to acknowledge that Hezbollah was not in a position to hit back or attack Israeli troops occupying parts of South Lebanon.<\/p>\n

But he said the group would not disarm under the threat of a renewed all-out war.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are proceeding, prepared and ready for a defensive confrontation,\u201d the Hezbollah chief said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Source: <\/p>\n

Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Knockback deals potential blow to US diplomat Thomas Barrack\u2019s efforts to press on with \u2018go-forward plan\u2019 for Israel-Lebanon peace. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem appeared to dismiss a proposal that his group disarm, as presented by the United States to Lebanon\u2019s leadership last month. Qassem argued on Friday that the Israeli army would expand in Lebanon … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}