Al-Rahi says Hezbollah 'submission to Iran dictates' is not resistance

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has criticized remarks by Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem as he urged the group to hand over its arms and declare its "ultimate loyalty to Lebanon".

"There can be no civil war," al-Rahi told Saudi state-owned news channel al-Arabiya Tuesday, after Qassem said last week that Hezbollah disarmament could lead to "civil war" and vowed to fight to keep the group's arsenal.

"The Shiite community has had enough of wars and wants to live in peace and there is a full Lebanese consensus on Hezbollah's disarmament," al-Rahi said, adding that Hezbollah must understand that the army would protect all Lebanese and must be loyal only to Lebanon and not to Iran.

"The war that Hezbollah started in support of Gaza only brought devastation to Lebanon. Resistance is not submission to Iran's dictates, Hezbollah has stripped the resistance of its true meaning," al-Rahi said, adding that Lebanon can make peace with Israel when the time is right.