Lebanon’s government has set in motion its most ambitious effort in decades to assert exclusive control over the country’s weapons, ordering the army to draw up a plan to disarm Hezbollah and all non-governmental armed groups by the end of 2025. The move, which has sparked fierce debate both inside and outside Lebanon, comes against a backdrop of regional turmoil, mounting international pressure, and the lingering aftermath of last year’s deadly conflict with Israel.
According to Ahram Online, the Lebanese cabinet’s decision on Tuesday, August 5, marked a historic turning point. The government tasked the army with presenting an “executive plan” by the end of August to ensure that only state military and security agencies would possess weapons. This plan is seen as a crucial step in implementing the November 2024 ceasefire that ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
The ceasefire, brokered with international support, required Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani River and dismantle its military infrastructure in southern Lebanon. In return, Israel was to pull all its forces from southern Lebanon—a promise that, Lebanese officials say, remains unfulfilled, with five key areas still under Israeli occupation. Lebanon has called on the international community to pressure Israel to end its attacks and withdraw its troops, insisting that it has respected its ceasefire commitments.
Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shiite group that has long been one of Lebanon’s most powerful political and military actors, was the only militia allowed to retain its weapons after the country’s 15-year civil war ended in 1990. Founded in 1982 in response to Israel’s second invasion of Lebanon, Hezbollah has since positioned itself as the main defender of Lebanon’s southern border, as well as a member of the so-called “axis of resistance” alongside Hamas in Gaza and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, united in opposition to Israel.
The government’s latest disarmament push, however, has met with fierce resistance from Hezbollah and its allies. The group’s parliamentary bloc accused the cabinet of committing a “grave sin” by accepting what it described as American demands that “inevitably serve the interests of the Zionist enemy.” On Wednesday, Hezbollah declared that it would treat the government’s decision “as if it did not exist.” Hundreds of its supporters took to the streets of Beirut’s southern suburbs and other strongholds on Thursday, protesting the move as troops deployed to maintain order, according to AFP photographers and Lebanese media reports.
Iran, Hezbollah’s primary backer, has also weighed in forcefully. Ali Akbar Velayati, international affairs adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told the Tasnim news agency, “The Islamic Republic of Iran is certainly opposed to the disarmament of Hezbollah. Iran has always supported the people and the resistance of Lebanon and continues to do so.” He characterized the disarmament push as the result of “US and Israeli interference,” adding, “But just as previous anti-Lebanese plans failed, this one will also not succeed, and the resistance will stand firm against these conspiracies.”
The Lebanese foreign ministry swiftly condemned Velayati’s remarks, calling them “unwarranted statements regarding Lebanese domestic decisions that are of no concern to the Islamic republic.” The ministry added in a post on X that “the leadership in Tehran would be better served by focusing on the issues of its own people.” Earlier this year, the foreign ministry had summoned the Iranian ambassador over similarly critical remarks about the disarmament plans.
On Wednesday, Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi struck a more conciliatory tone, stating that any decision on disarmament was Hezbollah’s to make. “Tehran supports its ally from afar, but we do not intervene,” Araghchi said, according to Ahram Online.
The international community has largely welcomed the Lebanese government’s initiative. US envoy Tom Barrack praised Lebanon’s “historic, bold, and correct decision this week to begin fully implementing” the November ceasefire. France’s foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot echoed the sentiment, describing the disarmament effort as “a brave and historic decision” that would enable Lebanon to rebuild and “protect all its communities.”
Still, the process is fraught with political and practical challenges. Lebanon’s sect-based power-sharing system means that the absence of Shiite ministers—four of whom walked out of Thursday’s cabinet meeting in protest—could undermine the legitimacy of any decisions taken. Before last year’s war, Hezbollah wielded enough political power to impose its will or disrupt government business. But, as Ahram Online notes, the group has emerged from the conflict weakened, its influence curbed by both battlefield losses and shifting political dynamics.
The US proposal under consideration by Lebanon’s cabinet includes 11 objectives, among them “ensuring the sustainability” of the ceasefire and “the gradual end of the armed presence of all non-governmental entities, including Hezbollah, in all Lebanese territory.” It also calls for the deployment of Lebanese troops in border areas and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the five remaining occupied sites in the south. The government has endorsed introducing the US text, though Information Minister Paul Morcos said specific timelines have yet to be discussed. Implementation, he added, “is dependent on the approval of each of the concerned countries.”
Environment Minister Tamara Elzein, who is close to Hezbollah’s ally Amal, told Al Manar that the government “first hoped to consolidate the ceasefire and the Israeli withdrawal, before we could complete the remaining points” in the US proposal, such as disarming Hezbollah. The group, for its part, insists it has complied with disarmament requirements in the south but refuses to do so elsewhere until Israel fully withdraws from Lebanese territory.
Meanwhile, the security situation remains tense. Israel has signaled it could launch new military operations if Beirut fails to disarm Hezbollah, and on Thursday, August 7, carried out several strikes on eastern Lebanon, killing at least seven people, according to the Lebanese health ministry. UN peacekeepers reported discovering a “vast network of fortified tunnels” in southern Lebanon, including three bunkers, artillery, rocket launchers, hundreds of explosive shells and rockets, anti-tank mines, and about 250 ready-to-use improvised explosive devices. In June, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the Lebanese army had already dismantled more than 500 Hezbollah military positions and weapons depots in the south.
As the deadline for the army’s disarmament plan approaches, Lebanon faces a daunting balancing act—one that pits its sovereignty and the rule of law against powerful domestic and regional forces. The coming months will test not only the government’s resolve but also the country’s fragile unity, as it seeks to chart a new course in the shadow of war and the ever-present specter of foreign intervention.
