‘Palestine will remain the compass’: Hezbollah leader chides Lebanese government over disarming his group
Naim Qassem has delivered a video speech emphasising the Lebanese armed group’s stance that it will not bow to pressure from the US and Israel to disarm.
He said the Lebanese government’s decision to disarm the group “means facilitating the killing of resistance fighters and their families and expelling them from their land and homes”.
Hezbollah is willing to cooperate on “discussions of defence strategy and national security” once Israel ends its occupation of Lebanese territory, Qassem said, adding that the government’s duty is to “build the country, not to hand it over to the Israeli and American enemy”.
He said a number of Arab states support ongoing Israeli strikes on Hezbollah fighters across Lebanon, thanked Iran and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei for their continued support and pledged that “Palestine will remain the compass” for Hezbollah.
Lebanon PM says ‘veiled threat of civil war’ in Hezbollah leader’s remarks
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has commented on Qassem’s speech today, in which the Hezbollah leader said Palestine would “remain the compass” for the group.
Qassem said Hezbollah would not bow to pressure from the US and Israel to disarm and threatened there would be “no life in Lebanon” should its weapons be taken by force.
In a post on X, Salam said Qassem’s remarks carried “a veiled threat of civil war”.
“No one in Lebanon today wants a civil war, and any threats or intimidation of such a war are completely unacceptable,” he said. “Talk about the Lebanese government implementing an American-Israeli project is a false claim. … Our decisions are purely Lebanese, made by our Council of Ministers, and no one dictates them to us,” he added.
Except that international aid for reconstruction has conditions on it...
Israel strikes outskirts of Nabatieh, southern Lebanon
Israeli aircraft have launched air strikes on the Ali al-Taher area in the outskirts of Nabatieh, in southern Lebanon, the state news agency NNA has reported. The agency said several air-to-ground missiles were used in the attacks. The number of casualties is unknown.
Video taken by local sources and verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad agency shows thick plumes of smoke rising from the area. NNA reported loud booms being heard from a distance.
مراسلة ZNN: سلسلة غارات معادية عنيفة تستهدف منطقة #علي_الطاهر#عاجل #لبنان #جنوب_لبنان pic.twitter.com/HC8L7fseek
— ZNN-LEB (@znn_lb) August 15, 2025
