BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, an ally of the Iran-backed Hezbollah, called on Sunday for dialogue over its weapons, days before the government is expected to approve an army plan to disarm the group.
Months after Hezbollah’s devastating war with Israel and under heavy US pressure, Lebanon’s government this month tasked the army with drawing up a plan to disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year.
Hezbollah strongly opposed the decision and Shiite ministers, including representatives from the group and Berri’s Amal Movement, withdrew from the last government session in protest.
“We reiterate that we are open to discussing the fate of those weapons... in a calm and consensual dialogue,” Berri, an influential Shiite leader, said in a speech commemorating the 1978 disappearance of Amal founder Musa Al-Sadr.
Lebanon’s ministers are set to meet again on Friday after receiving the army’s plan.
