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,

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

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.