Lebanon’s cabinet debates army plan to disarm Hezbollah

Beirut: Lebanon’s Cabinet convened Friday to discuss a plan drawn up by the Lebanese army to disarm the Hezbollah militant group and consolidate weapons in the hands of the state.

Upon the arrival of the army chief, Gen Rudolph Haikal, ministers from Hezbollah’s political bloc as well as the allied Shiite Amal party and independent Shiite minister Fadi Makki withdrew from the meeting room. The Hezbollah and Amal ministers then left the government palace.

The Shiite ministers had also walked out in protest from the meeting last month in which the Cabinet commissioned the army with drawing up a disarmament plan.

Since a US-brokered ceasefire halted the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November, Hezbollah has been under increasing domestic and international pressure to give up its remaining arsenal.

Hezbollah officials have said that the group will not consider disarmament until Israel withdraws its forces from five strategic hills they are occupying inside Lebanese territory and halts its near-daily airstrikes. Israel’s military says it is striking to prevent the group from rearming and to protect residents of its northern border area.

After last month’s decision to pursue a disarmament plan, Hezbollah accused the government of caving to United States and Israeli pressure and said it would “treat this decision as if it does not exist”.

A Hezbollah official who spoke on condition of anonymity, in accordance with the group’s procedures, said Friday that the ministers

had agreed to withdraw when the army

commander arrived “because we consider that this plan comes out of an illegal decision... and we will not debate a matter that is built on a basis that we do not recognise as legal”.agencies