Washington accuses Hezbollah of dragging Lebanon to destruction, and Qasim escalates against the government news

The United States accused Hezbollah of seeking to drag Lebanon back into chaos and destruction, warning of a deliberate campaign to destabilize the country and undermine its legitimate institutions.

The US State Department said in a statement yesterday, Sunday, that Washington “condemns in the strongest terms Hezbollah’s reckless call to overthrow the democratically elected Lebanese government.”

The US State Department accused the party of ignoring repeated calls from the legitimate government to stop its attacks and respect ceasefire arrangements.

She added that Hezbollah “continued to bomb Israeli sites and transfer fighters and weapons to southern Lebanon,” considering that these steps come in the context of an attempt to maintain its influence at the expense of the future of the Lebanese people.

She stressed that the Lebanese government is working to achieve recovery and reconstruction and secure international support, with the full support of the United States.

The US State Department affirmed that Washington “stands firmly with the Lebanese government in its quest to restore its full authority,” stressing that Hezbollah’s threats of violence and overthrowing power “will not be allowed to succeed,” adding that the phase of “a terrorist group holding an entire nation hostage is almost over.”

“If the government fails, let it leave.”

These statements come one day after a televised speech by Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, in which he considered that the Lebanese government was dealing with American pressure in a way that served what he described as the Israeli project, criticizing the escalation of official rhetoric calling for confining weapons to the state.

Qasim stressed that the authority “is not authorized to act according to its whims,” but rather has a direct responsibility before the people as their representative and before state institutions as well.

Qassem said, “If the government is unable to preserve national sovereignty, it must leave,” wondering about the outcome of its performance during a year and a half, and considering that the inability forces those in power to step down.

In the same context, he renewed his party’s categorical rejection of any direct negotiations with Israel, describing this path as a “net gain for Tel Aviv” and calling on the Lebanese authorities to abandon it.

Qassem stressed that the resistance cannot accept any proposal that would strip it of its defensive ability, accusing Israel of seeking to annihilate the resistance and its people.

He also accused the United States of not being an honest mediator, but rather exerting pressure to extract free concessions from Lebanon, considering that the recent American sanctions on figures linked to Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, and Lebanese officials fall within the framework of political pressure on the resistance and its allies.