Lebanon claims first phase of Hezbollah’s disarmament close to complete

According to Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Lebanon is close to completing the Hezbollah disarmament in the south of the Litani River before the end of the year.

The US-backed agreement that ended more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which was reached in November last year, has led to Saturday’s statement.

The Iran-aligned Lebanese armed group must be disarmed in order to reach an agreement, starting with areas south of the river that are adjacent to Israel.

On August 5, the US-backed Lebanese army was assigned with developing a plan to establish a state monopoly on arms by the end of the year, according to Lebanese authorities led by President Joseph Aoun and Salam.

In a statement from his office, “Prime Minister Salam stated that the first phase of the weapons consolidation plan involving the area south of the Litani River is only days away from being finished.”

According to Salam, “The state is prepared to move on to the second phase, which is [confiscating weapons] north of the Litani River],” according to Salam, who was given the government’s order to do so.

Committee meeting

The statement was made after Salam spoke with Lebanon’s top civilian negotiator, Simon Karam, on a committee overseeing the Hezbollah-Israeli truce.

The committee met on Friday to discuss how to bring back internally displaced people, as well as civil rights issues to stop a new war if the year-end deadline for Hezbollah, to be broken.

The committee’s 15th meeting reflected a long-standing US push to expand dialogue beyond the 2024 ceasefire.

Civilians met on Friday to discuss steps to promote economic reconstruction, the US Embassy in Beirut said, and support the safe return of residents displaced by the 2023-24 war.

Israeli airstrikes have repeatedly targeted Lebanon since the ceasefire, primarily southern Lebanon, but occasionally even the capital.

Israel claims that Hezbollah’s disarmament efforts are being questioned by the Lebanese army.

Shia Muslim organization Hezbollah has tried to stop the country’s predominantly Christian and Sunni Muslim opponents in Lebanon, as well as from the US and Saudi Arabia, by claiming that it would be wrong to continue its airstrikes against Israel.