Hezbollah leader Qassem vows terror group will not disarm under Israeli 'threats'

Naim Qassem, leader of the Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, vowed on Sunday that the organization would not disarm under what he labeled Israeli “threats.” 

“This threat will not make us accept surrender,” Qassem stated in a video address. He further claimed that Hezbollah needed to resist Israeli “aggression.” 

“How can you expect us not to stand firm while the Israeli enemy continues its aggression, continues to occupy the five points, and continues to enter our territories and kill?” Qassem argued. 

“We will not be part of legitimizing the occupation in Lebanon and the region. We will not accept normalization [with Israel],” he added.

The Hezbollah leader’s remarks came after both the United States and the Western-backed Lebanese government have demanded that the Jihadist group disarm and retreat. 

Like its patron, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hezbollah openly calls for Israel’s destruction. On Oct. 8, 2023, the day after the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel and massacre of 1,200 Israelis, Hezbollah launched an aggression against northern Israel. Tens of thousands of Israelis were forced to evacuate their homes as a result of intense Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks on northern Israeli communities.

Israel responded by eliminating most of Hezbollah’s leadership including its top leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The Israeli military also killed several thousand Hezbollah operatives and severely degraded Hezbollah’s rocket and drone capabilities. In November 2024, Hezbollah reluctantly agreed to a ceasefire that still appears to be holding. 

Israel withdrew its forces from most of southern Lebanon. However, IDF soldiers are still holding five small strategic border areas to provide security for nearby Israeli border communities. 

While there is a formal ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, the Israeli military has continued targeting senior Hezbollah operatives and their weapons caches inside Lebanon. The goal of the Israeli military operations is to prevent Hezbollah from rearming and regrouping. 

The U.S. envoy Tom Barrack reportedly proposed that Israel would halt its military operations inside Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah agreeing to disarm its operatives. However, Qassem who replaced the late Hezbollah leader Nasrallah, dismissed Washington’s proposal. 

“America’s equation asking us to choose between being killed or surrender does not concern us and we will cling to our rights,” he said in his speech according to the Naharnet news outlet. 

The Hezbollah leader also claimed that the terrorist group needs its missile arsenal to resist Israel. 

“How can we confront Israel when it attacks us if we didn’t have them? Who is preventing Israel from entering villages and landing and killing young people, women and children inside their homes unless there is a resistance with certain capabilities capable of minimal defense?” Qassem claimed.

However, the Israeli military has carefully tried to minimize civilian casualties while fighting Hezbollah terrorists who, like their Hamas allies in Gaza, have systematically used civilians as human shields, which is defined as a war crime under international law. 

While the Hamas Oct. 7 massacre was devastating for Israel, the far more powerful Hezbollah planned an even larger invasion and massacre of Israeli civilians in the north. 

In early 2025, ALL ISRAEL NEWS Editor-in-Chief Joel Rosenberg revealed that he had received a briefing on the immense military threat that Hezbollah constituted before it was severely degraded by the Israeli military and intelligence services. 

“I got a briefing today on 18,000 pieces of military hardware, weapons, machine guns, missiles, rocket launchers, all kinds of stuff that Israel captured from Hezbollah and even more was destroyed,” Rosenberg stated. 

Hezbollah intended to use these offensive weapons during a massive invasion of northern Israeli communities that was stopped by Israeli forces. 

The new Lebanese government claims that its forces now control the majority of southern Lebanon, an area that, until recently, was controlled and dominated by Hezbollah.