Raad prefers 'death' over handing over weapons

The head of Hezbollah’s Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammad Raad, has warned that surrendering the group’s weapons would be equivalent to “surrendering one’s honor.”

“Handing over the weapons is suicide and we do not intend to commit suicide,” Raad said in an interview on Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV.

“The state can extend its authority with its own capabilities, but it cannot confront the enemy,” Raad added, noting that Hezbollah supports “monopolizing arms in the hand of the state when it becomes capable of pushing the occupation to withdraw and protecting the country.”

Noting that the government’s latest decision to set a timetable for disarming Hezbollah before the end of the year “might turn the problem from a Lebanese-Israeli conflict into an internal conflict,” Raad said “the notion that the resistance’s arms did not protect Lebanon is a falsification of reality.”

“If we hand over our weapons, we have the example of the enemy’s ethics in Gaza,” Raad warned.

He added: “We are keen on civil peace, but after this decision (by the government), we do not know what the guarantee for its continuation would be. The decision is dangerous, so how can we guarantee its repercussions?”

“In the common spaces, you have attacked our share, which is our security,” Raad charged.

“The (popular) atmosphere in the South, the Bekaa and Dahieh considers that the latest decision has opened the way for us to Karbala (martyrdom),” Raad added.

“Those who contributed to approving the decision are either stupid or they rushed an irresponsible stance and committed a sin that pushes to difficult choices,” the lawmaker said.

“We choose death over handing over the weapons and let them go pave the sea,” Raad went on to say.