The Lebanese Kataeb Party on Wednesday accused Hezbollah of “reassuring Israel” and using its weapons to intimidate the Lebanese state and its own citizens rather than confronting the country’s enemies, denouncing the group’s continued defiance and refusal to disarm.

“Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem appeared to reassure Israel that there is no threat facing its northern settlements and expressed his party’s willingness to clear the area south of the Litani River of weapons, all to put Israel at ease,” the Kataeb said in a strongly worded statement responding to Qassem’s latest remarks.

The party questioned the purpose of Hezbollah’s arsenal in light of those statements.

“What, then, is the function of these weapons?” it asked. “And where is the so-called ‘resistance against Israel’ if its priority today is to reassure it rather than confront it?”

The Kataeb accused Qassem of directing his threats inward, against the Lebanese government and state institutions, which he described as “servants of Israel.” Qassem had recently warned that if the bloodshed in southern Lebanon continues, “all of Lebanon will bleed because of America and Israel.”

“This inflammatory rhetoric does not target the enemy,” the Kataeb said. “It targets the Lebanese state, its institutions, and the domestic front.”

The statement also rebuked Qassem for questioning why the government has not set a timetable for restoring national sovereignty and tasking security forces with enforcing it. The party said Qassem ignored the fact that “the cabinet’s decision to confine all weapons to state authority, along with the Lebanese Army’s plan, already form a comprehensive national sovereignty framework aimed at restoring full state control over Lebanese territory.”

“No country can claim genuine external sovereignty before reclaiming its internal sovereignty,” the party added.

The Kataeb also took aim at Qassem’s admission that Hezbollah has “assumed responsibility” for 42 years, calling it “the clearest acknowledgment that this path is the direct cause of Lebanon’s loss of sovereignty, the army’s weakness, and the collapse of state institutions.”

“Those who monopolize national decision-making and impose their authority over state institutions cannot simultaneously claim to protect or defend the state,” the statement read. “You have admitted the failure of your experiment.”

The party said Hezbollah’s recent attacks on the international community reflect its frustration with a shifting global stance, from a period of tacit cover for the “Axis of Resistance” and regional understandings with Israel, to an active phase of support for the Lebanese state and its legitimate institutions.

“This change deprived Hezbollah of a bargaining card it once exploited both domestically and abroad,” the Kataeb said.

The statement also condemned Hezbollah’s continued calls for young Lebanese to die as martyrs, saying the group treats their lives “as if they have no value.”

“It is as though Hezbollah’s community has not already suffered enough from displacement, destruction, and countless losses,” the party said, accusing the group of “resigning in advance to Israel’s military superiority.”

“It has become clear today that Hezbollah’s threats are aimed more at its ‘internal enemy’ — the Lebanese government and state — than at Israel,” the statement concluded. “This is a manifestation of Iran’s frustration over losing its Lebanese bargaining card, and a desperate attempt to compensate through rhetoric of intimidation and defiance.”