Hezbollah chief says 'no life' in Lebanon if government confronts group

Hezbollah raised the spectre of civil war with a warning on Friday there would be "no life" in Lebanon if the government sought to confront or eliminate the Iran-backed group.

The government wants to control arms in line with a U.S.-backed plan following Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah, which was founded four decades ago with the backing of Tehran's Revolutionary Guards.

But the group is resisting pressure to disarm, saying that cannot happen until Israel ends its strikes and occupation of a southern strip of Lebanon that had been a Hezbollah stronghold.

"This is our nation together. We live in dignity together, and we build its sovereignty together - or Lebanon will have no life if you stand on the other side and try to confront us and eliminate us," its leader Naim Qassem said in a televised speech.

Israel has dealt Hezbollah heavy blows in the last two years, killing many of its top brass, including former leader Hassan Nasrallah, and 5,000 of its fighters and destroying much of its arsenal.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that Qassem's statements carried an implicit threat of civil war, calling them "unacceptable".

"No party in Lebanon is authorised to bear arms outside the framework of the Lebanese state," Salam said in a post on X carrying his statements from an interview with the pan-Arab Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

The Lebanese cabinet last week tasked the army with confining weapons only to state security forces, a move that has outraged Hezbollah.

DIALOGUE POSSIBLE

Qassem accused the government of implementing an "American-Israeli order to eliminate the resistance, even if that leads to civil war and internal strife".

However, he said Hezbollah and the Amal movement, its Shi'ite Muslim ally, had decided to delay any street protests while there was still scope for talks.

"There is still room for discussion, for adjustments, and for a political resolution before the situation escalates to a confrontation no one wants," Qassem said.

"But if it is imposed on us, we are ready, and we have no other choice ... At that point, there will be a protest in the street, all across Lebanon, that will reach the American embassy."

The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, which left parts of Lebanon in ruins, erupted in October 2023 when the group opened fire at Israeli positions along the southern border in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas at the start of the Gaza war.

Hezbollah and Amal still retain influence politically, appointing Shi'ite ministers to cabinet and holding the Shi'ite seats in parliament. But for the first time in years, they do not hold a "blocking third" of cabinet posts that in the past enabled them to veto government decisions.

Hezbollah retains strong support among the Shi'ite community in Lebanon, but calls for its disarmament across the rest of society have grown.