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Hezbollah Shuffles its Cards, Adheres to Weapons Control

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem. (Reuters)
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem. (Reuters)
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Hezbollah Shuffles its Cards, Adheres to Weapons Control

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem. (Reuters)
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem. (Reuters)

The rhetoric of Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief on Saturday reaffirmed the party's commitment to its weapons and contradicted the positive atmospheres prevailing in the country after the election of General Jospeh Aoun as President, and the designation of international judge Nawaf Salam to form the new government.

On Saturday, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, stated that "the resistance in Lebanon will remain resilient against the American-Israeli project, continuing to be strong, ready, and loyal to the blood of the martyrs in its mission to liberate the land and Palestine".

Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in a conflict parallel to the Gaza war in November. That ceasefire, which was brokered by the United States and France, requires Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon within 60 days, and for Hezbollah to remove all its fighters and weapons from the south.

Both sides have since accused each other of breaching the ceasefire.

"Don't test our patience and I call on the Lebanese state to deal firmly with these (Israeli) violations that have exceeded 100," Qassem said in a speech delivered during the 13th International Conference titled "Gaza, Symbol of Resistance".

He added saying that the party emerged from the war “with our heads held high”, and that plans to utilize the resistance and its weapons should be discussed within the defense strategy and through dialogue.

He emphasized that "no one will be able to exploit the results of the (Israeli) aggression for internal political gains, as the political process is separate from the status of the resistance".

Qassem's stance comes just days before Israel is set to withdraw from the south, a move that, according to Ghayas Yazbek, a member of the Lebanese Forces bloc, is "dangerous" and will lead to negative consequences for Lebanon. He “is provoking a new Israeli war on Lebanon", he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Qassem’s remarks about insisting on holding on to weapons and to the separation of Resolution 1701 between the southern and northern parts of the Litani River contradict the ceasefire agreement, mainly that these statements come just days before Israel’s planned withdrawal from the areas it occupied in southern Lebanon on January 27, and on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US President. This could trigger a dangerous escalation from Israel”, Yazbek said.

Qassem’s statement is also an attempt to undermine the credibility of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who had conveyed positive vibes regarding the formation of the new government. The President and the Prime Minister-designate had affirmed that no party in Lebanon will be excluded from the upcoming government.

“Qassem’s rhetoric is a severe blow to the new presidency and premiership”, Yazbek stated, describing it as "an act of blackmail” akin to the tactics Hezbollah employed before the war.

The Secretary-General's remarks coincided with the presence of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Beirut and came just hours after the official visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to Lebanon.

"Naim Qassem's speech raises concerns among friendly and sisterly countries that have pledged to provide full support to the Lebanese state, and it represents a negative message toward President Macron, who spoke on behalf of the international community”, said Yazbek.

The MP added that the rhetoric “reflects narrow, sectarian agenda of the Shiite community, which has once again entangled the country in crises from which it is desperately trying to extricate itself”.

Sami Nader, Director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, downplayed the impact of Qassem’s rhetoric on the positive atmospheres prevailing in Lebanon.

Qassem’s remarks are "an attempt to absorb the setback the party faced, a preemptive move regarding the ministerial statement and its potential participation in the new government, as well as a way to gauge the contents of the ministerial statement and interpret the issue of restricting weapons to the state”, Nader told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The nomination of Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam had angered Hezbollah, which accused opponents of seeking to exclude it.
Salam was nominated by a majority of lawmakers last week to form a government but did not win the backing of the Shiite parties Hezbollah and the Amal Movement.
Salam said the formation of a new government would not be delayed, indicating a positive atmosphere in discussions over its composition.
 

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Palestinians Trek across Rubble to Return to Their Homes as Gaza Ceasefire Takes Hold

An internally displaced Palestinian woman sits at the rubble of her destroyed house in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 19 January 2025, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. (EPA)
An internally displaced Palestinian woman sits at the rubble of her destroyed house in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 19 January 2025, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. (EPA)
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Palestinians Trek across Rubble to Return to Their Homes as Gaza Ceasefire Takes Hold

An internally displaced Palestinian woman sits at the rubble of her destroyed house in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 19 January 2025, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. (EPA)
An internally displaced Palestinian woman sits at the rubble of her destroyed house in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 19 January 2025, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. (EPA)

Even before the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas was fully in place Sunday, Palestinians in the war-battered Gaza Strip began to return to the remains of the homes they had evacuated during the 15-month war.

Majida Abu Jarad made quick work of packing the contents of her family’s temporary lodging in the sprawling tent city of Muwasi, just north of the strip’s southern border with Egypt.

At the start of the war, they were forced to flee their house in Gaza’s northern town of Beit Hanoun, where they used to gather around the kitchen table or on the roof on summer evenings amid the scent of roses and jasmine.

The house from those fond memories is gone, and for the past year, Abu Jarad, her husband and their six daughters have trekked the length of the Gaza Strip, following one evacuation order after another by the Israeli military.

Seven times they fled, she said, and each time, their lives became more unrecognizable to them as they crowded with strangers to sleep in a school classroom, searching for water in a vast tent camp or sleeping on the street.

Now the family is preparing to begin the trek home — or to whatever remains of it — and to reunite with relatives who remained in the north.

"As soon as they said that the truce would start on Sunday, we started packing our bags and deciding what we would take, not caring that we would still be living in tents," Abu Jarad said.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 people. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.

The Israeli military bombardment that followed the attack has flattened large swaths of Gaza and displaced 1.9 million of its 2.3 million residents.

Over 46,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which says women and children make up more than half the fatalities but does not distinguish between civilians and fighters. More than 110,000 Palestinians have been wounded, the ministry said. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Even before the ceasefire officially took effect — and as tank shelling continued overnight and into the morning — many Palestinians began trekking through the wreckage to reach their homes, some on foot and others hauling their belongings on donkey carts.

"They’re returning to retrieve their loved ones under the rubble," said Mohamed Mahdi, a displaced Palestinian and father of two. He was forced to leave his three-story home in Gaza City’s southeastern Zaytoun neighborhood a few months ago.

Mahdi managed to reach his home Sunday morning, walking amid the rubble from western Gaza. On the road he said he saw the Hamas-run police force being deployed to the streets in Gaza City, helping people returning to their homes.

Despite the vast scale of the destruction and uncertain prospects for rebuilding, "people were celebrating," he said. "They are happy. They started clearing the streets and removing the rubble of their homes. It’s a moment they’ve waited for for 15 months."

Um Saber, a 48-year-old widow and mother of six children, returned to her hometown of Beit Lahiya. She asked to be identified only by her honorific, meaning "mother of Saber," out of safety concerns.

Speaking by phone, she said her family had found bodies in the street as they trekked home, some of which appeared to have been lying in the open for weeks.

When they reached Beit Lahiya, they found their home and much of the surrounding area reduced to rubble, she said. Some families immediately began digging through the debris in search of missing loved ones. Others began trying to clear areas where they could set up tents.

Um Saber said she also found the area's Kamal Adwan hospital "completely destroyed."

"It’s no longer a hospital at all," she said. "They destroyed everything."

The hospital has been hit multiple times over the past three months by Israeli forces waging an offensive in largely isolated northern Gaza against Hamas fighters it says have regrouped.

The military has claimed that Hamas fighters operate inside Kamal Adwan, which hospital officials have denied.

In Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, residents returned to find massive destruction across the city that was once a hub for displaced families fleeing Israel’s bombardment elsewhere in the Palestinian enclave. Some found human remains amid the rubble of houses and the streets.

"It’s an indescribable scene. It’s like you see in a Hollywood horror movie," said Mohamed Abu Taha, a Rafah resident, speaking to The Associated Press as he and his brother were inspecting his family home in the city’s Salam neighborhood. "Flattened houses, human remains, skulls and other body parts, in the street and in the rubble."

He shared footage of piles of rubble that he said had been his family’s house. "I want to know how they destroyed our home."

The families' return to their homes comes amid looming uncertainty about whether the ceasefire deal will bring more than a temporary halt to the fighting, who will govern the enclave and how it will be rebuilt.

Not all families will be able to return home immediately. Under the terms of the deal, returning displaced people will only be able to cross the Netzarim corridor from south to north beginning seven days into the ceasefire.

And those who do return may face a long wait to rebuild their houses.

The United Nations has said that reconstruction could take more than 350 years if Gaza remains under an Israeli blockade. Using satellite data, the United Nations estimated last month that 69% of the structures in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, including more than 245,000 homes. With over 100 trucks working full time, it would take more than 15 years just to clear the rubble away.

But for many families, the immediate relief overrode fears about the future.

"We will remain in a tent, but the difference is that the bleeding will stop, the fear will stop, and we will sleep reassured," Abu Jarad said.