Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem declared on Wednesday that calls for the terrorist group to disarm served Israeli interests, following renewed international pressure on Iran’s Lebanese proxy.

Qassem insisted that such demands align with what he described as Israel’s strategic goals, vowing that Hezbollah will resist efforts to disarm it or convince it to withdraw from Southern Lebanon.

“Anyone calling today for the surrender of weapons, whether internally or externally, on the Arab or the international stage, is serving the Israeli project,” AFP quoted the terror leader as saying in a televised address marking the first anniversary of the targeted killing by Israel of senior commander Fuad Shuk.