BEIRUT: A senior Hezbollah official has warned Lebanon’s government that pressing on with efforts to disarm the group throughout the country would trigger chaos and possibly civil war, according to comments circulated by the armed group on Wednesday.
Lebanon has pledged to bring all arms in the country under state control, in line with a 2024 agreement that ended a devastating war between Hezbollah and Israel.
Hezbollah insists that deal only applies to the southernmost region of Lebanon that borders Israel and has refused to relinquish its arsenal elsewhere.
In an interview with Russian state media outlet RT, senior Hezbollah political official Mahmoud Qmati said pursuing a state monopoly on arms further north would be “the biggest crime committed by the state.”
“The path taken by the Lebanese government and state institutions will lead Lebanon to instability, chaos and perhaps even civil war,” Qmati said, though he added that Hezbollah would not be dragged into a confrontation with Lebanon’s army.
