Hezbollah's chief on Monday doubled down on his refusal to give up the group's weapons ahead of talks between Lebanese officials and visiting US envoys after Lebanon's government opted to disarm the Iran-backed militants.
"We will not give up the weapons that protect us from attack," Naim Qassem said in a televised address. "These weapons are our soul, our honour, our land, our dignity, our children's future," he said, adding: "Whoever wants to take away these weapons wants to take away our souls."
Under heavy US pressure and fears of Israel expanding its military action, Lebanon's government this month tasked the army with drawing up a plan to disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year.
Hezbollah was the only faction that kept its weapons after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, doing so in the name of "resistance" against Israel, and has repeatedly rejected the decision.
The move came after the balance of power in Lebanon shifted following more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah that left the group badly weakened.
Qassem urged the Lebanese government to reverse the decision, saying "it was made under US-Israeli dictates", and accused Washington of wanting to "wreck Lebanon".
US envoys Thomas Barrack and Morgan Ortagus are to meet Lebanese officials on Tuesday.
Lebanon has been waiting for Israel's response to a US proposal that includes details on a timetable and mechanism for dismantling Hezbollah, as well as Israel's withdrawal from areas it occupied during the recent conflict.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday Israel was ready to back Lebanon's efforts to disarm Hezbollah and offered "a phased" pullout of its troops if Beirut followed through with its plans.
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