Hezbollah to treat Lebanon’s disarmament decision ‘as if it does not exist’

The Lebanese armed group says the move was dictated by the US and that it ‘fully serves Israel’s interest’.

Hezbollah has branded the Lebanese government’s push to have a state monopoly on arms as a “grave sin” and is dismissing it out of hand “as if it doesn’t exist”.

The group on Wednesday rejected a decision by the Lebanese cabinet a day earlier that authorises the Lebanese army to draw up a plan to confine arms across the country to six official security forces by the end of the year.

The government decision followed ramped-up pressure by the United States to get the Lebanese armed group to lay down its arms, amid burgeoning fears that Israel could intensify strikes on Lebanon, even while it carries out near-daily violations of the November truce it signed with Hezbollah to end the war.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam confirmed the decree after the cabinet meeting, saying it is “the state’s duty to monopolise the possession of weapons”, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA).