Lebanon's Hezbollah Threatens Civil War as Disarmament Demands Mount

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem warns of civil war while accusing authorities of US-backed disarmament, as Lebanon's leadership hesitates.

Lebanon's Hezbollah Threatens Civil War as Disarmament Demands Mount — Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem, speaking on the anniversary of the end of the 2006 war, accused the authorities of fulfilling US demands and paying excessive attention to disarmament, warning of a possible civil war while urging supporters to remain restrained but ready to act.[^1] The threat lands amid a deepening standoff: Samir Geagea countered that Lebanon's leadership fears direct confrontation with the militants and is delaying the implementation of decisions.[^1] The two men sketch a country caught between external pressure to disarm the Shiite group and internal dread of what that would unleash. Qassem's rhetoric is calibrated. He does not call for uprising; he asks for restraint, yet frames the moment as one where action may become necessary. That ambiguity mirrors the government's own paralysis — Joseph Aoun and Nawaf Salam face calls to accelerate disarmament, but any move risks igniting the very conflict Qassem invokes.[^1] The anniversary setting matters: 2006 is Hezbollah's foundational war, and invoking it signals that the group sees today's pressure as comparable to an armed confrontation. The immediate trigger is the demand to disarm, which Qassem frames as a US-imposed agenda. Geagea's accusation that the leadership is delaying decisions suggests the state is not merely hesitant but strategically stalled. For now, the balance holds — but Qassem's warning reframes the disarmament debate from a political issue to a survival question for the state itself. The open question is whether the leadership's fear of confrontation, as Geagea describes it, will eventually force a choice between action and collapse. Likud's 'Creative' Slots and the Twilight of the Judicial Coup — Michael Kleiner, Likud court president and former MK, told Ynet that he helped Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with party-list slots using 'creative methods' that provided a 'democratic veneer' for actions not 'exactly according to the constitution.'[^1] The admission lands hours before protest organizations return to Habima Square in Tel Aviv this evening at 8:00 PM, demanding a state commission of inquiry.[^2