‘Pivotal moment’ for Lebanon as cabinet backs army plan to disarm Hezbollah amid growing US pressure

By Mostafa Salem and Charbel Mallo, CNN

(CNN) — The Lebanese government welcomed a plan presented by the army on Friday to disarm Hezbollah, the country’s most formidable military force, in an unprecedented move that risks sparking internal conflict.

The army will start implementing the terms of the deal, but may have limited capabilities, according to Lebanon’s information minister, Paul Morcos.

The government did not provide a timeline for the plan to take effect, but Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the army’s leadership will submit a monthly report to the cabinet on its progress.

The government, which is under intense American and regional pressure to disarm the powerful Iran-backed militia, had asked the army to present its plan by early August, despite a rejection by Hezbollah and its allies.

At a cabinet meeting on Friday, five ministers from Hezbollah and its allied Amal party withdrew as the government began discussing the plan, according to Lebanon’s official National News Agency.

The Lebanese army’s plan is an unprecedented effort to disarm Iran’s most powerful regional proxy and one of the biggest non-state threats to Israel. Despite being significantly weakened by Israel over the past two years, Hezbollah remains Lebanon’s most powerful armed group and has a large support base among the country’s large Shiite community. Observers warn that any attempt to disarm it by force risks plunging the country into civil conflict.

While the details of the Lebanese army’s plan remain unclear, the government has previously said that all weapons belonging to militias must be under the state’s control by the year’s end.

“This is a very, very pivotal moment,” a senior Lebanese official told CNN on Friday, before the plan was presented. “The aim is for the handover (of weapons) to be at the end of the year, or started at least by the end of the year.”

Morcos said the government welcomed the military’s plan to control weapons but decided to keep the details confidential.

Aside from being a militant group, Hezbollah also functions as a political party that has lawmakers in the legislature and a social services arm that serves many of its constituents, primarily in the south of the country. Some opponents of Hezbollah have insisted that it disband its armed wing and function solely as a political party.

After Lebanon’s civil war ended in 1990, Hezbollah expanded its influence across politics and society by remaining armed – unlike other militias, it was exempted from disarmament under the Taif Agreement due to its role in resisting Israeli occupation.

Lebanon was devastated by a year-long conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, triggered by the militia’s backing of Hamas after the Palestinian militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Israeli strikes severely weakened Hezbollah – culminating in the assassination of its revered leader, Hassan Nasrallah – and significantly curtailed the group’s domestic clout.

A US-mediated ceasefire last year was meant to halt Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, but near daily strikes by Israel and its occupation of five positions in southern Lebanon have hardened Hezbollah’s refusal to disarm – raising the prospect of a clash with the army if it moves to disband the group.

Israeli attacks hinder efforts to disarm Hezbollah

Lebanon’s government, led by Salam, a former head of International Court of Justice, has been accused by Hezbollah supporters of treason for conceding to US demands to disarm the group while Israeli forces remain present in Lebanese territory remain. But opponents of Hezbollah blame the group for dragging the nation into war with Israel and have criticized its leadership for failing to deliver on promises to protect the country.

US envoys Tom Barrack and Morgan Ortagus, appointed by President Donald Trump, have capitalized on Hezbollah’s weakened state to launch shuttle diplomacy aimed at negotiating frameworks between Lebanon and Israel, centered around Hezbollah’s disarmament and Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. They appear to be aware of the risks involved.

“LAF (Lebanese Armed Forces) and the government will be coming back with a plan saying ‘our proposal to Hezbollah is how to disarm them,’ which is not necessarily militarily – they’re not talking about going to war, they’re talking about how to convince Hezbollah to give up those arms,” Barrack told journalists during a visit to Beirut last month.

Barrack said at the time that the army’s plan is part of an 11-step process pledged to be completed by the Lebanese government.

US and Lebanese officials have offered few details about how they envision convincing Hezbollah to disarm voluntarily.

The senior Lebanese official warned that continued Israeli strikes on Lebanon are hindering government efforts to disarm the group.

“So long as Israel maintains military positions inside Lebanese territory and bombs the entire border area until all homes, fields, crops and any form of life are destroyed, Hezbollah will continue to say that their weapons are to defend themselves and the country,” the official said. “It’s important for them (Israel) to get out of here.”

Israeli officials have previously said that troops in Lebanon would remain there “indefinitely,” but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that the military would begin a phased withdrawal from Lebanon if the Lebanese army disarms Hezbollah.

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