Hezbollah chief says group's weapons not part of negotiations with Israel

BEIRUT: Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said Tuesday that his Iran-backed group's weapons were not part of upcoming negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, and vowed his fighters would turn the battlefield into "hell" for Israeli forces.

"Nobody outside Lebanon has anything to do with the weapons, the resistance, this is an internal Lebanese matter and not part of negotiations with the enemy," Qassem said in a written statement ahead of a third round of talks in Washington between Lebanese and Israeli representatives this Thursday and Friday.





"We will not surrender and we will continue to defend Lebanon and its people, however long it takes and however great the sacrifices, we will not abandon the battlefield and we will turn it into hell for Israel," he added in the statement, which was addressed to the group's fighters and broadcast on its Al-Manar television channel, as fighting continues in Lebanon despite a ceasefire.