Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has reiterated calls for Hezbollah to hand over its weapons to the army, a move rejected by the group despite growing pressure from Israel’s main ally, the United States.
In a televised speech on Thursday at the Defence Ministry’s headquarters, Aoun said authorities were demanding “the extension of the Lebanese state’s authority over all its territory, the removal of weapons from all armed groups, including Hezbollah and their handover to the Lebanese army”.
He added it was every party’s duty “to seize this historic opportunity and push without hesitation towards affirming the army and security forces’ monopoly on weapons over all Lebanese territory … in order to regain the world’s confidence”.
Aoun’s comments came a day after Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem dismissed calls for the group’s disarmament, saying that “anyone calling today for the surrender of weapons, whether internally or externally, on the Arab or the international stage, is serving the Israeli project”.
Hezbollah officials have said they will not discuss giving up the group’s remaining arsenal until Israel, with which it fought an all-out war recently, withdraws from all of Lebanon and ends its strikes.
“For the thousandth time, I assure you that my concern in having a [state] weapons monopoly comes from my concern to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty and borders, to liberate the occupied Lebanese territories and build a state that welcomes all its citizens”, said Aoun on Thursday, addressing Hezbollah’s supporters as an “essential pillar” of society.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began on October 8, 2023, as the Lebanese group launched strikes in solidarity with the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza, which was coming under Israeli attack. Although a ceasefire was reached last November, Israel has kept up its air attacks on Lebanon and has threatened to continue until Hezbollah has been disarmed.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hezbollah was to withdraw its fighters north of the Litani River, about 30km (20 miles) from the Israeli border. Israel, meanwhile, was meant to pull all of its troops out of Lebanon, but has kept them in five areas it deems strategic.
Aoun in his speech also demanded the withdrawal of Israeli troops, the release of Lebanese prisoners and “an immediate cessation of Israeli hostilities”.
“Today, we must choose between collapse and stability,” he said.
Lebanon presents proposal for Hezbollah disarmament
The ceasefire was based on a previous United Nations Security Council resolution that said only the Lebanese military and UN peacekeepers should possess weapons in the country’s south, and that all non-state groups should be disarmed.
However, that resolution went unfulfilled for years, with the Iran-backed political party and armed group’s arsenal before the latest war seen as far superior to the army’s, and the group wielding extensive political influence.
The US has been pushing Lebanon to issue a formal cabinet decision committing to disarm Hezbollah before talks can resume on a halt to Israeli military operations in the country, five sources familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency.
Lebanon has proposed modifications to “ideas” submitted by the US on Hezbollah’s disarmament, Aoun said in his speech, and a plan would be discussed at a cabinet meeting next week to “establish a timetable for implementation”.
Under the Lebanese proposal, there would be an “immediate cessation of Israeli hostilities” in Lebanon, including air strikes and targeted killing, a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and the release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel, the president added.
Aoun said Lebanon’s proposal also calls for international donors to contribute $1bn annually for 10 years to beef up the Lebanese army’s capabilities and for an international donor conference to raise funds in the autumn for reconstruction of Lebanese areas damaged and destroyed during last year’s war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Lebanon, for its part, would implement the “withdrawal of the weapons of all armed forces, including Hezbollah, and their surrender to the Lebanese Army”, he said.
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