US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Hezbollah in a statement of trying to plunge Lebanon “back into chaos”, AFP reports.

Rubio denounced what he called Hezbollah’s “reckless call to overthrow Lebanon’s democratically elected government” and said the armed group was “actively trying to drag Lebanon back into chaos and destruction”.

Naim Qassem, the leader of Hezbollah, said earlier that “the people have the right to go down onto the streets and to bring down the government” in response to Israeli strikes and US sanctions on the Al-Qard Al-Hassan financial institution.