BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s parliament speaker on Sunday criticized Washington’s push to quickly to disarm the Hezbollah militant group, and called instead for a calm national dialogue to determine “the fate of those weapons.”
Nabih Berri, a key ally of Hezbollah who was instrumental in negotiating with Washington to reach a ceasefire that ended a monthslong war between Israel and Hezbollah in November, made the remarks in an address to the country commemorating the disappearance of prominent Shite cleric Moussa al-Sadr.
The Lebanese military will soon present a plan to the government on disarming Hezbollah by the end of the year, after President Joseph Aoun and most of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s government endorsed a proposal by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack. Both since coming to power earlier this year have vowed to monopolize all weapons in the hands of the Lebanese military and security agencies.
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Kassim has refused to discuss the matter of the Iran-backed group and political party’s weapons until the Israeli military withdraws from five hilltops in southern Lebanon it controls and stops its near-daily strikes on Lebanon.
“We are open to discussing the fate of these weapons, which we Lebanese see as honorable, within the framework of a calm and consensual dialogue,” said Berri. He said that would be in line with Aoun and Salam’s policies.
Hours before the address, Israeli jets launched intense airstrikes over the southern Nabatieh province. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said they damaged some shops and homes. Israel said it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. Videos after the strike showed large smoke plumes coming from the rolling hills in the area. There was no immediate word of casualties.
The original ceasefire plan last November called for Hezbollah to disarm in southern Lebanon below the Litani River, while Israel would withdraw its forces from Lebanon and stop its strikes. Disarming the group and other non-state actors in other parts of the country was to be addressed in a later stage.
However, U.S. officials have told Lebanese authorities not to expect the Israelis to take any steps to withdraw before seeing some sort of disarmament plan go into effect.
Hezbollah insists that it has disarmed in the south and has done its part of the deal. Israel believes it is trying to rebuild its military capacities there.
What the U.S. is proposing now “goes beyond the principle of restricting weapons,” said Berri, who criticized Israel for its ongoing near-daily airstrikes.
In a recent visit to Lebanon, Barrack praised the government’s decision to disarm Hezbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli troops could begin withdrawing from southern Lebanon following Beirut’s decision, without giving any details.
Lebanese authorities fear a direct confrontation between the country’s military and Hezbollah. But Washington and Hezbollah’s opponents see the opportunity for a swift disarmament after Israel’s large-scale attacks in Lebanon that killed a slew of senior Hezbollah military officials, and after their key ally Bashar Assad next door in Syria was ousted in a lightning insurgency last December.
A low-level conflict between Israel and Hezbollah started a day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack against Israel from Gaza, when Hezbollah began launching rockets across the border in support of its Palestinian ally. The conflict escalated into war in September 2024, leaving more than 4,000 people dead and causing destruction worth $11 billion in Lebanon, according to the World Bank.
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