Beirut, May 12, 2026 — Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem told a televised address that the group’s weapons and military capabilities are an internal Lebanese matter and will not be negotiated away amid the current fighting with Israel.
Qassem, speaking as hostilities continue, rejected proposals for disarmament and said Hezbollah’s fighters are prepared for a prolonged confrontation. “We will not abandon the field. We will turn it into hell for Israel,” he said, according to a report by Al Jazeera carried by ANI.
He outlined five objectives he said must guide Lebanon’s response: ending Israeli aggression and restoring Lebanese sovereignty, securing the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied lands, freeing detainees, enabling the return of displaced people to southern Lebanon, and carrying out comprehensive reconstruction.
Insisting that foreign actors have no role in deciding Lebanon’s internal affairs, Qassem added that “no one outside Lebanon has any say in the weapons, the resistance or the organisation of Lebanon’s internal affairs.” He said the resistance’s armament is off-limits to international negotiators and that once the five goals are met Lebanon will set its internal security arrangements “with a national security strategy” that includes the resistance.
The remarks come amid a fragile, largely nominal ceasefire brokered by the United States on April 17 that has been extended but is widely seen as ineffective. Daily clashes continue on the ground: Israeli forces have held positions in a southern Lebanese buffer zone and are reported to control roughly 6% of Lebanese territory since March.
The conflict’s humanitarian toll has been severe. Media reports cite more than 2,840 deaths in Lebanon, over 8,700 injured, and more than a million people displaced since the escalation began on March 2. Israeli strikes have hit areas across the country, including Beirut’s southern suburbs (Dahiyeh) and zones beyond the Litani River, often following evacuation orders, while Hezbollah has carried out drone and rocket attacks targeting Israeli military positions in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.
This surge of violence deepens an already precarious regional security situation in the wake of the 2024 Lebanon war. (ANI; reporting via Al Jazeera)
(Note: This account is sourced from a syndicated feed and is published as received.)
