Gemayel says Hezbollah weapons clearly 'aimed at Lebanese' now
Kataeb leader MP Sami Gemayel said Wednesday that Hezbollah's weapons are now a threat to the Lebanese people, after Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said that there is no danger on the residents of north Israel, urging it to withdraw from south Lebanon.
"If the arms do not threaten the northern settlements according to Sheikh Naim's latest statement, then they have certainly become a tool to intimidate and pressure the Lebanese, and sway the elections."
The parliamentary election is scheduled for May 2026, but there is a debate over the voting system for the large Lebanese diaspora, with the LF and the Kataeb calling for the participation of the expats in the voting for all 128 seats.
Hezbollah and its allies made a strong showing in municipal elections earlier this year in the group’s traditional political strongholds, which the group is hoping to translate into gains in the parliamentary polling. They say that they do not enjoy the same campaigning freedom that the other parties enjoy abroad and are objecting the requested amendment to the electoral law. The current law allows expats to vote for only six newly-introduced seats.
After Qassem's speech in which he complained that Washington is trying to force the country to make concessions to Israel with no commitments offered in return, the Kataeb party said in a statement that the speech threatened the Lebanese more than it threatened Israel.
"What is the role of these arms and of the resistance if its priority today is to reassure Israel not to confront it? It has become clear today that Hezbollah's threats are aimed at its domestic enemy — the Lebanese government and state," the statement said.
Qassem had said that the government's role is not to listen to the U.S. "diktats", as Washington pushed to cut off Hezbollah's funding sources while also pressing the Lebanese government to disarm the group.
In August, the Lebanese government ordered the army to devise a disarmament plan. Since then, the army has briefed the government twice on the plan but the discussions were kept secret.
