Hezbollah and Amal call for protest in Beirut on Wednesday to reject cabinet decisions on arms

The labor offices of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement have called on Lebanese workers, unionists, and producers to gather on Wednesday, August 27, at 5:30 p.m. in Beirut's Riad Al Solh Square in protest against two recent government decisions.

In a joint statement, the groups said the rally is meant to reject cabinet measures issued on August 5 and 7, which they argue contradict Lebanon's higher national interests and the principle of coexistence.

The statement framed the protest as a defense of Lebanon's sovereignty, the legitimacy of armed resistance against Israel, and a rejection of what the groups called "external pressures" on the Lebanese state. 

"This stand is an affirmation of our right to preserve our arms, which have proven capable of breaking the enemy's power, and of our right to resist Israeli aggression and occupation," the statement read.

The organizers invoked the teachings of the late Imam Musa al-Sadr, who described Israel as "absolute evil," and of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who referred to Israel as a "cancerous gland." They urged workers to ensure the rally becomes "a historic day in the record of struggle," reflecting national unity and opposition to what they described as submission and surrender.