Naim Kassem, leader of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group, said the government should have instead "spread its authority and evicted Israel from Lebanon."

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem issued a warning to the Lebanese government against moving forward with its plan to disarm the Iran-backed militant group,

Hezbollah raised the spectre of civil war with a warning on Friday there would be "no life" in Lebanon if the government sought to confront or eliminate the Iran-backed group.