Hezbollah's leader Naim Qassem is trying to apply counter pressure on Lebanon's government in light of its intention to disarm the terrorist organization. In this fight, Hezbollah wants to see blood. How should Israel act? Hezbollah's secretary-general Naim Qassem's latest speech this week is an escalating signal from the terrorist organization of its readiness to threaten the state of Lebanon with civil war. This comes amid continuing pressure from Lebanese authorities to disarm Hezbollah. Qassem declared that the Lebanese government's decision to demilitarize Hezbollah is an American dictate, and called on the government to annul it.
Ahead of the Hezbollah and Amal protest rally this week at Riyad al-Solh Square, adjacent to the parliament building in Beirut, Qassem emphasized Hezbollah's uncompromising stance, whose main points are these: the terrorist organization refuses to hand over its weapons and is even prepared to confront Lebanon's authorities in order to preserve them, which he described as "our spirit, our honor and the future of our children."
The clear addressees of Qassem's remarks are President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. Hezbollah propagandists are already calling both of them on social media "Yazid," after the Umayyad caliph Yazid, detested by Shiites, who was responsible for the killing of Imam Husayn at the Battle of Karbala in 680. Alongside this, other Hezbollah propagandists on social media called for violent confrontation during the protest rally. In this context it is worth noting that security around President Aoun and Prime Minister Salam has recently been reinforced, out of fear that their fate could resemble that of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, who was assassinated by Hezbollah in 2005. (Read More)