Lebanon gov't achieved 80% of its Hezbollah disarmament objectives: PM Salam

Ahram Online , Thursday 29 May 2025

Lebanon's government has achieved roughly 80 percent of its objectives in disarming militant groups in the country's southernmost areas, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

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File photo: Lebanon's prime minister Nawaf Salam. AFP

 

“All over the Lebanese territory, the state should have a monopoly on arms,” Salam said during the interview. 

Lebanon’s army has largely disarmed the Hezbollah group in its southern strongholds as the country’s new government works to enforce the fragile ceasefire agreement with Israel reached in November 2024, according to WSJ.

According to senior Arab officials, Israeli intelligence shared by the United States has aided the Lebanese army in locating and destroying Hezbollah’s remaining weapon stockpiles and military posts in the south.

The army said it destroys some of the weapons it confiscates from Hezbollah but keeps whatever is usable, bolstering its own understocked arsenal.

These operations have enabled the Lebanese military to assert control south of the Litani River, managing exit and entry points in a region long dominated by Hezbollah.

Both Salam and US officials are pushing for Hezbollah to be disarmed across the rest of the country as well, WSJ reported.

Under the ceasefire agreement brokered by France and the United States, Hezbollah is required to withdraw its weapons and fighters from areas south of the Litani River.

Israeli forces were also to pull back as the Lebanese army deployed into the region.

However, Israel has violated the agreement, carrying out hundreds of strikes on Lebanon and maintaining troops in five positions in the country's south.

According to senior Lebanese security officials, Hezbollah has cooperated with the disarmament efforts in the south and yielded security control in other areas, including Beirut’s airport.

Sources familiar with Hezbollah’s strategy told WSJ that the group is trying to win domestic political points by playing ball as the country seeks reconstruction funding from Western and Arab Gulf states, which are hostile to Hezbollah and placing stipulations on financial aid. 

Still, concerns are mounting over what might happen if Hezbollah resists disarmament efforts north of the Litani River.

Senior officials within Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have expressed hope that internal violence can be avoided — an outcome many Lebanese fear after enduring decades of civil war.

The Lebanese army is unlikely to engage Hezbollah militarily. Historically, the army has avoided direct confrontation, remaining cautious not to inflame the country’s sensitive sectarian balance among Christians, Sunni and Shia Muslims, and Druze.

“We don’t want to put the country onto a civil-war track, but believe me, this is not going to affect our commitment to the need to extend and consolidate the authority of the state,” said Salam.

 

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