Lebanon’s cabinet has told the army to draw up a plan to establish a state monopoly on arms in a challenge to the Iran-backed Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah, which rejects calls to disarm.
WHY IS THERE A PUSH TO DISARM HEZBOLLAH NOW?
Israel pummelled Hezbollah last year in a war sparked by the conflict in Gaza, killing many of its top brass and 5,000 of its fighters before a November truce brokered by the United States.
That deal committed Lebanon to restricting arms to six specific state security forces, and further stipulated that it should confiscate unauthorized weapons and prevent rearmament by non-state groups.
In the months since, a new Lebanese government vowed to confine arms across the country to state control, Hezbollah’s main arms route was cut when its Syrian ally Bashar Assad was ousted in December and Israel attacked its sponsor Iran in June.
