Hezbollah, long a dominant force in Lebanese politics, was left weakened by more than a year of hostilities with Israel sparked by the Gaza war, including an Israeli ground incursion and two months of heavy bombardment that decimated the group's leadership.
“We will not let anyone disarm Hezbollah or disarm the resistance” against Israel, Qassem said in remarks on a Hezbollah-affiliated TV channel.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said this week that he wanted “to make 2025 the year of restricting arms to the state”, adding he hoped to achieve that objective through “dialogue” with Hezbollah.
“Israel must withdraw (from south Lebanon) and cease its aggression, and the Lebanese state must begin the process of reconstruction,“ he added.
“It is not a question of disarming,“ Wafic Safa said in an interview with Hezbollah's Al-Nur radio station.
In his interview, Safa asked: “Wouldn’t it be logical for Israel to first withdraw, then release the prisoners, then cease its aggression... and then we discuss a defensive strategy?
Analysts have said that the once unthinkable idea of Hezbollah disarming may no longer be so, and may even be inevitable.
Under the November ceasefire, Israel was meant to withdraw all of its forces from south Lebanon.
Israel has also continued to carry out near-daily strikes against Lebanon -- including on Friday -- saying it is targeting members of Hezbollah.
Lebanon's army has been deploying in the south as Israeli forces pulled back.
Hezbollah was the only group to keep its weapons after Lebanon’s 15-year civil war ended in 1990, saying that they were for “resistance” against Israel, which continued to occupy the south until 2000.
In his remarks on Friday, Qassem said Hezbollah rejected “American control over Lebanon”.
“The problem is Israel, which has not done so,“ he said.
On Saturday, a source close to Hezbollah told AFP that the group had ceded to the Lebanese army around 190 of its 265 military positions south of the Litani.
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