Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. AFP
Restricting the bearing of arms to the state is "a sensitive, delicate issue that is fundamental to preserving civil peace" and requires due "consideration and responsibility", Aoun told reporters.
"We will implement" a state monopoly on bearing arms "but we have to wait for the circumstances" to allow this, he said, adding that "nobody is speaking to me about timing or pressure".
"Any controversial domestic issue in Lebanon can only be approached through conciliatory, non-confrontational dialogue and communication. If not, we will lead Lebanon to ruin," he added.
His remarks came as Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes killed two people in in the country's south, the latest such raids despite a ceasefire.
Hezbollah, long a dominant force in Lebanon, was left weakened by more than a year of hostilities with Israel, sparked by Israel's genocidal war on Gaza that has killed over 51,000 Palestinians.
Israel escalated its conflict on Lebanon by launching a ground invasion and two months of heavy bombardment across Lebanon, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Lebanese.
On Friday, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said the group "will not let anyone disarm" it, as Washington presses Beirut to compel the movement to hand over its weapons.
Qassem said his group was ready for dialogue on a "defence strategy", "but not under the pressure of occupation" by Israel.
Israel has continued to conduct regular strikes in Lebanon despite a November 27 ceasefire and still occupies five positions in south Lebanon that it deems "strategic," a blatant violation of the agreement, which mandates Israel's withdrawal from Lebanese territory.
On Sunday, Lebanon's health ministry said an "Israeli enemy strike on a vehicle in Kaouthariyet al-Saiyad", located inland between the southern cities of Sidon and Tyre, killed "one person" and wounded two others.
It later said a separate "Israeli enemy" strike "on a house in Hula", near the border, killed one person.
The United Nations Human Rights Office said on Tuesday that "at least 71 civilians" had been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon since the ceasefire, while Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah confirmed last week that the death toll had reached 186.
Qassem's comments came hours after another senior Hezbollah official, Wafic Safa, said the group would refuse to discuss handing over its weapons until Israel withdrew completely from south Lebanon.
"Wouldn't it be logical for Israel to first withdraw, then release the prisoners, then cease its aggression... and then we discuss a defensive strategy?" Safa said in an interview with Hezbollah's Al-Nur radio station.
He added, "The defensive strategy is about thinking about how to protect Lebanon, not preparing for the party to hand over its weapons."
However, US Deputy Special Envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus insisted this month that disarming Hezbollah should happen "as soon as possible."
Under the truce, Hezbollah was to pull north of Lebanon's Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south, while Israel was to withdraw all its forces, which Israel refuses to do and continues to occupy at least five positions in south Lebanon.
The group was the only one to retain its weapons after Lebanon’s civil war ended in 1990, resistance against Israel, which had attacked Lebanon repeatedly since its first invasion in 1978 and before the group’s founding in 1982 — in response to Israel’s second invasion and occupation of Lebanon that same year.
Safa said on Friday that both Hezbollah and the Lebanese army were respecting the terms of the truce, which Israel continues to violate.
"The problem is Israel, which has not done so," he said.
On Saturday, a source close to Hezbollah told AFP that the group had ceded to the Lebanese army around 190 of its 265 military positions identified south of the Litani.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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