Hezbollah: “Our weapon is our honor and Karbala is our choice.”

July 5, 2025, the tenth day of the month of Muharram – Ashura – which marks the fall of Imam Hussein in the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE, is a day of mourning in the Shiite community. As in every year, around the Ashura events, Hezbollah conducts a wide propaganda campaign with religious overtones, combined with various messages relating to key issues in Lebanon and beyond. It appears that this year, in light of recent events, Hezbollah is investing particularly significant resources in the campaign.

Alongside the mourning ceremonies, giant billboards have been posted across Lebanon – from Beirut to Nabatieh – bearing the slogan: “Our weapon is our honor and Karbala is our choice.” This slogan is not merely an emotional religious expression, but a strong political statement by Hezbollah directed at the Lebanese government and the international community. These billboards carry a clear message: the organization’s weapons are not up for negotiation or surrender, not even under the pressure of international resolutions or demands to hand them over to the Lebanese army.

Hezbollah continues to oppose any attempt to raise the issue, presenting its hold on weapons as an embodiment of national and sectarian “honor,” and the parallel to the Battle of Karbala underscores its willingness to fight to the end to preserve its independent power outside the state’s sovereignty. Nasrallah’s words are often cited: “They will take our souls before they take our weapons – not because we love weapons, but because the weapons are a symbol of honor and pride…”

We must not delude ourselves into thinking that Hezbollah will be disarmed in the future. Even in the present, we assess there is a gap between perception and reality. Despite numerous reports and alleged data on the activities of the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL in this regard, we do not possess concrete evidence of such activity or of the scale of the achievements as publicized