U.S. Message to Lebanon: Israel Will Keep Striking Until Hezbollah Is Disarmed

The newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported today (Monday) that U.S. officials told Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam that the government's steps are insufficient and that Israel will continue its strikes and remain in the security zone as long as Lebanon does not seriously act to disarm Hezbollah.

According to the report, the American message was conveyed to Salam last week on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. The Americans stressed that “the steps Lebanon has taken so far are not enough to bring about a halt to Israeli military activity.”

Meanwhile, Hezbollah sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the organization is “open to discussing the issue of disarming within the framework of a Lebanese defense strategy,” but conditioned this on an end to all IDF attacks and a full withdrawal from Lebanon.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem claimed last night, in a speech marking two years since the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, that Hezbollah decided to define the period since September 2024 under the name “We Continue Our Promise.” In his words: “In the last war, we reached a point where Iran was the one that stopped the strikes in Lebanon. The memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States was what reduced the escalation, and the resistance succeeded in using what it had in order to reach an agreement.”

Qassem addressed Israel's demand that the Lebanese army disarm his organization and attacked the move. “You tried for two years to disarm [us] and did not succeed, so why are you asking the Lebanese army?” He addressed Israel and added: “You demand that the Lebanese army be a tool in your hands, but the Lebanese army is a national army. The people of Lebanon speak to one another, not to you, and you cannot decide for the Lebanese army.”

Qassem rejected any possibility of surrendering to Israeli aggression, warning that such a move would mean the end of coexistence in Lebanon and pave the way for the “Greater Israel” plan. He accused the enemy of seeking a civil war and the annexation of Lebanon under the patronage of the U.S. administration, stressing that “a Lebanon without resistance will be erased.” The organization, he declared, will act until Israel leaves Lebanese soil and the territory is fully liberated.