In his recent speech, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem demanded that Israel respect the ceasefire agreement and withdraw from southern Lebanon by February 18. He framed it as a matter of “national sovereignty” and condemned any delay as “implementing the demands of the occupation.” Major media outlets—including Voice of America, France 24, ABC News, and Reuters—picked up his statements with little scrutiny.
These reports followed stories of a woman killed and several others wounded while trying to return to their villages on Sunday, February 16—two days before the withdrawal deadline. Voice of America, in the very last paragraph of its report (where fewer readers are likely to see it), mentioned that the Lebanese army had actually warned citizens not to enter areas where its troops had not yet deployed. None of these outlets included the IDF’s account, which stated that it had fired warning shots after spotting unidentified individuals gathering in a military zone.
The framing in these reports is unmistakable: civilians trying to return home, only to be killed and wounded by occupation forces poised to violate international agreements. Meanwhile, Hezbollah—the supposed defender of the people—invokes “sovereignty.” It all fits neatly into a narrative designed to evoke sympathy from Western readers, making it easy to distinguish good from evil.
But here’s the reality: Hezbollah, designated as a terrorist organization in the U.S., much of Europe, and many Arab countries, isn’t fighting for actual sovereignty or national independence. Anyone familiar with its history knows that Hezbollah exploits these concepts to justify its own armed control over Lebanon, all with the Iranian regime’s backing. And despite its rhetoric about international agreements, it is Hezbollah that has systematically violated those very agreements.
Take UN Resolution 1701, for example. Signed by Lebanon in 2006, it required all armed groups in the country to disarm, allowing only the Lebanese Armed Forces to possess weapons. Hezbollah never complied. Instead, it amassed a vast arsenal, smuggling in weapons from Iran via Syria. Since October 8, 2023, Hezbollah has fired rockets at northern Israeli towns almost daily. By November 2024, 45 Israeli civilians had been killed, over 60,000 residents had fled their homes, and countless businesses and farms were destroyed.
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Yet Hezbollah isn’t the only one with a selective memory when it comes to international agreements. The UN has largely ignored Hezbollah’s blatant violations of Resolution 1701. No new resolutions have been passed calling on Lebanon to enforce it. Meanwhile, since the IDF entered Gaza in October 2023, Western media have meticulously covered Israel’s military operations. Hezbollah’s near-daily rocket attacks, which have forced millions of Israelis into shelters, have been relegated to footnotes—if they’re mentioned at all. After all, the media are far less interested in the casualties of the “oppressor.”
And what does Hezbollah’s version of “sovereignty” actually mean? In Europe, national sovereignty is understood as an expression of the people’s will, not the ability of armed militias to impose their rule. Qassem himself made Hezbollah’s stance clear:
The problem is not that [Lebanese authorities] are ensuring the safety of civilians at a difficult time,” Qassem said. “The problem is that this is the implementation of Israel’s command. We are facing a real problem. Where is the national sovereignty? Are we employees of Israel, implementing the demands of the occupation?”
In other words, Hezbollah sees protecting civilians as a concession to Israel. This isn’t about sovereignty—it’s about control. Hezbollah’s authority is built on fear, and Western media, whether through omission or framing, keep providing it with cover.
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