Kataeb Party leader Samy Gemayel on Thursday responded to Hezbollah’s open letter to Lebanon’s three top officials, warning that the group is pressuring the State and the Lebanese people to surrender key sovereign powers.

In a post on X, Gemayel accused Hezbollah of attempting to force the State and the people to choose “between the very existence of the Lebanese entity and ceding sovereign powers to it, including control over arms and the authority to negotiate.” He added that the group is “insisting on dragging us into another pointless and destructive war.”

The Kataeb leader called on Lebanon’s official authorities to take firm action on the issues of arms and negotiations.

“It is imperative that the official authorities act decisively and firmly on the issues of arms and negotiations. A minority beholden to foreign influence cannot be allowed to determine the fate of a free majority,” he wrote.

Hezbollah’s open letter, addressed to President Joseph Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and the Lebanese people, reaffirmed the group’s right to resist occupation and aggression. The letter also explicitly rejected what Hezbollah described as a “negotiation trap” with Israel.