Kataeb Party leader Samy Gemayel said Sunday that the time for dialogue over Hezbollah’s weapons had ended, hours after Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem addressed supporters gathered in Beirut to mark the second anniversary of the killing of longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.

“The time for dialogue over Hezbollah’s weapons is over,” Gemayel wrote on X.

“These weapons are no longer a bargaining chip. The issue is settled: there can be no weapons outside the State, and no authority above the State,” he said.

Gemayel added that while the Kataeb Party supported dialogue, it would not engage in discussions over Hezbollah’s weapons until they were handed over to the Lebanese State.

“We are advocates of dialogue, but there can be no dialogue until the weapons are handed over,” he said, before concluding with a verse from a well-known Islamic religious saying: “Be merciful to those on earth, and the One in heaven will have mercy on you.”

Gemayel’s comments came after Qassem told tens of thousands of supporters gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs that Hezbollah remained capable of resisting Israel and had not been defeated.

“We are ready for dialogue and discussion, but first, liberate the south, and let the people return,” Qassem said.

He was speaking at a rally marking two years since Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike.

Qassem accused Lebanese authorities of helping what he described as an Israeli-U.S. project through the framework agreement being discussed between Lebanon and Israel.

“With the framework agreement, the authorities are helping the Israeli-US project instead of confronting it,” he said.

“All the pressure on Lebanon today aims to accomplish what Israel was unable to achieve over two years,” Qassem added, saying the Lebanese army should not be used as “a tool” against Hezbollah.

Qassem also addressed Israeli efforts to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure, including large-scale detonations this month at the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge.

He said maintaining positions was “not the main objective” for Hezbollah, while vowing that the group would continue despite the losses it had suffered.

“With the great sacrifices that we have made up until now, we can only keep going, and we cannot be defeated,” Qassem said.