Efforts to disarm Hezbollah will fail, a senior Iranian military official said Thursday, two days after Lebanon's cabinet tasked the army with ensuring it has a monopoly on weapons in the country.
“They are seeking to disarm the resistance in Lebanon, but they will take that wish to the grave,” said Iraj Masjedi, deputy coordinator of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, according to Iranian media.
“Resistance forces remain fully prepared and equipped, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is completely ready for any scenario,” he added.
Masjedi's remarks followed Beirut’s announcement Tuesday that the Lebanese army would be tasked with collecting weapons from groups operating outside the state’s command.
Lebanon's cabinet instructed the army to develop a plan by the end of the year aimed at creating a state monopoly on weapons—an implicit challenge to Hezbollah, which has resisted disarmament since last year’s war with Israel.
Hezbollah decried the move as a "grave sin" and vowed to ignore it.
The Lebanese government has long been under international pressure to assert monopoly over arms, particularly from Western states who view Iran-backed Hezbollah’s military structure as a parallel force within the state.
Israel, Armed Forces General Staff spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi said on Thursday, aimed to undermine the Iran-backed network of armed groups in the region.
“The Zionist regime is attempting to alter regional equations, but the resistance front stands firm,” Shekarchi said, naming Hezbollah, Hamas, Yemen’s Houthis, Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi and other groups as active components of what he called a growing axis.
