Lebanon’s Council of Ministers took charge on Tuesday (5) the army of preparing a plan to disarm terrorist group Hezbollah and reiterated the country’s right to self-defense against any attack, amid fears of a new Israeli offensive due to lack of process progress.
“The Lebanese army is in charge of developing an implementation plan for the removal of weapons before the end of the year and introducing it to the Council of Ministers for discussion before 31 August,” Lebanese prime minister Nawaf Salam said at the end of a cabinet session.
At a news conference at the Presidential Palace, Salam explained that the Council of Ministers will meet again on Thursday (7) to continue conversations about the plan proposed by the United States to disarm Hezbollah.
The issue was discussed at a cabinet session for more than five hours amid Washington’s growing pressure to end the Shiite terrorist group’s armed arm after his war with Israel last year.
“We reaffirm Lebanon’s right to self-defense in the case of any aggression,” said the prime minister.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qasemem has called for a vision of “national unity” and a refusal to submit to Washington dictates, saying the US plan seeks to favor Israel and leave Lebanon powerless.
For this reason, he once again conditioned his possible disarmament to the prior cessation of Israeli attacks on the Lebanese territory and the removal of Israeli troops still present in five hills from southern Lebanon eight months after the ceasefire entry into force.
After last year’s war, the Lebanese state seeks to limit the possession of weapons exclusively in the hands of official security forces, but has so far supported Hezbollah voluntary surrender to prevent the outbreak of a possible internal conflict.
