The Lebanese army said in January it had finished disarming the group near the Israeli border in southern Lebanon, the scene of multiple wars between Israel and Hezbollah, the most recent of which was brought to a halt on April 17 by a ceasefire.

The army had been enacting a plan that it drew up after a 2024 ceasefire agreement that ended the last war between the two.

Speaking during an interview with a group of journalists including from AFP, Youssef Al Zein said the group had been able to "introduce forces and arms in the course of the battle" with Israel.

Zein said the reinforcements did not use roads controlled by the Lebanese army.

"We are convinced that the army is a national army" that "will not enter into a confrontation with Hezbollah", he said.

He said that if Israel had been able to penetrate deeper into Lebanese territory it was because Hezbollah had been disarmed south of the Litani river, which runs around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, and its infrastructure there, including tunnels, destroyed.

Nevertheless, he insisted that Hezbollah was able to "reconstitute its forces" after the last war with Israel, and that it was "prepared for a long battle".

Israel announced on April 7 that it had completed the deployment of its ground forces in southern Lebanon and would maintain a 10-kilometre-deep "security zone".

Asked about Hezbollah's recent use of cheap one-way attack drones controlled via fibre-optic cable against Israeli forces, Zein said it was one of the group's tactics.

"We are aware of the enemy's superiority, but at the same time we are exploiting its weak points," he said.

The use of such drones which, unlike radio-controlled UAVs, can't be electronically jammed and are hard to track, was popularised by the Ukraine conflict.

Zein, whose predecessor Mohammed Afif was killed in Israeli strikes on Beirut during the 2024 war, said the drones were "manufactured in Lebanon".

Attacks using such drones have killed two Israeli soldiers and a civilian contractor in under a week, according to the Israeli military.

Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the wider regional war started by US-Israeli attacks on Iran, when it launched rockets at Israel.

Israel's retaliation has killed more than 2,600 people, with its strikes on Lebanon continuing despite the truce.