Lebanese government to discuss Hezbollah disarmament

The Lebanese government is set to discuss an army plan to disarm Hezbollah on September 5, a move strongly opposed by the Iran-backed group, which accuses the cabinet of “playing into the hands of Israel and the United States.”

In August, under heavy US pressure and fearing an escalation of Israeli strikes, Lebanon’s government ordered the army to draft a plan aimed at disarming Hezbollah by the end of the year, Caliber.Az reports per Al Arabiya. 

Hezbollah reiterated its opposition on September 3, with its parliamentary bloc calling on Lebanese authorities to “reverse their... unpatriotic decision.”

The government says the disarmament initiative is part of implementing the US-brokered ceasefire agreement from November that ended over a year of hostilities between the group and Israel.

The cabinet session comes amid intensified Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon over the past two days, which killed at least five people, according to the health ministry and the state-run National News Agency.

David Wood, a senior Lebanon analyst at the International Crisis Group, told AFP, “Israel is trying to send a message that only concrete action on disarmament, rather than pledges and words, will do the job.”

Should the cabinet approve the plan, Wood said Hezbollah could consider other options such as “imposing pressure on the Shia ministers to resign from the government” or “trying to organize mass protests.”

Al Akhbar, a Lebanese pro-Hezbollah newspaper, reported that Hezbollah and Amal ministers might refuse to discuss the army’s plan on September 5.

In an effort to ease tensions, Speaker of Parliament and head of the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement Nabih Berri called on August 31 for discussions to be “a calm and consensual dialogue.”

In late August, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said, “the path of monopolizing arms, extending state authority and monopolizing decisions on war and peace is a path that has begun and there is no turning back.”

Hezbollah, which had been the most powerful political force in Lebanon before its most recent war with Israel, had the ability to sway and disrupt governments. The balance of power has since shifted, with the group weakened by the war and by the overthrow of its ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, accused the government of handing the country to Israel by pushing for disarmament. He added that Hezbollah and Amal had postponed a previous call for protest to allow room for discussion and “to make adjustments before we reach a confrontation that no one wants.”

However, he warned, “if it is imposed on us, we will face it.”

Hezbollah has been the only group to retain its weapons since Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, justifying its arsenal as a form of resistance against Israel. 

By Sabina Mammadli