Lebanon is facing new hurdles in collecting weapons from Hezbollah. In August, Beirut had succeeded in collecting arms from half a dozen Palestinian camps. This was supposed to pave the way to a phased approach to securing weapons in the hands of the state.
Hezbollah was supposed to be disarmed this year, but is stalling. The phased approach was supposed to mean that the Lebanese Armed Forces would collect weapons from the terrorist group south of Litani and then proceed north. However, it is not clear when and if this will begin.
Hezbollah wants to stall and drag things out for a year or two, hoping Beirut will forget. According to reports, several ministers from Amal and Hezbollah, the two Shi’ite parties, walked out of a recent government session. In total, five ministers left the meeting at the Baabda Presidential Palace when the issue of arms came up. This happened on Friday as the Lebanese Council of Ministers convened a session to discuss the plan prepared by the army to collect arms.
Daily Sabah in Turkey reported that the “cabinet met Friday to review a plan drafted by the Lebanese army aimed at disarming Hezbollah and placing all weapons under state control, as the group’s allies walked out of the meeting.” The report added that “upon the arrival of the army chief, Gen. Rudolph Haikal, ministers from Hezbollah’s political bloc, as well as the allied Shi’ite Amal Party and independent Shi’ite minister Fadi Makki withdrew from the meeting room. The Hezbollah and Amal ministers then left the government palace.”
“The Lebanese army will begin implementing the [Hezbollah disarmament] plan, but in accordance with the available capabilities, which are limited in terms of logistics, material, and human resources,” Information Minister Paul Morcos said when speaking to journalists after the session. Reuters said that the cabinet in Lebanon had welcomed the army’s plan.
Available capabilities
Hezbollah continues to warn the government about the plan. Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qmati told Reuters on Saturday that the group considered Friday’s cabinet session on an army plan to establish a state monopoly on arms “an opportunity to return to wisdom and reason, preventing the country from slipping into the unknown.” Meanwhile the pro-Hezbollah Al-Akhbar reported that Loyalty to the Resistance bloc Member of Parliament Raed Berro stressed that the government’s actions yesterday constituted “a moment of reflection on the path of sin,” calling on it to reverse them.
“We hope the Lebanese government realizes that the Zionist enemy only understands the language of steadfastness and refusal to give in to pressure, and that any concession in return only increases its ambitions,” Berro said. Meanwhile, France has urged Lebanon to continue along its current path, to collect arms peacefully without delay.
However, Al-Akhbar also noted that deputy head of the Supreme Islamic Shi’ite Council Sheikh Ali al-Khatib called on the Lebanese government to reconsider its “dangerous” decision regarding arms control, arguing that the authorities “do not want to defend the homeland, but rather seek to sow discord between the army and the resistance.
“The problem was with the West, with Israel, and with the United States of America,” he said. “You came to turn it into an internal strife. The decision taken to confront the resistance is not in anyone’s interest at all, not even in the government’s interest. We want the government to succeed, and we are with the government when it makes the right decision.”