A key ally of Lebanon's resistance has called upon Hezbollah to lay down its weapons, warning the country may be plunged into a new civil war. The controversial issue of Hezbollah arms, however, is "an internal matter" that should be settled through dialogue between the Lebanese themselves, insisted Khalid Hadadeh, General Secretary of the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP). "But I think it is time for the party to lay down its arms and become an exclusively political party," he told Gulf News in an interview in Bahrain on Saturday. He is visiting the kingdom to take part in the 50th anniversary celebrations of Bahrain's Liberation Front, a former Communist underground party. "Hezbollah should not be afraid of disarming. It is a strong national party which enjoys mass popular support in some of the most populated parts of Lebanon. It is not an isolated group. In the meantime, the majority of the people refuse any external pressure to disarm Hezbollah or any attempt to brand it as a terrorist group as is the case with Al Qaida," said Hadadeh, a Sunni mathematics professor who enjoys a close relationship with Hezbollah.