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.

Hezbollah has called for Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanese territory before any discussion on disarmament.

BEIRUT: The Lebanese Cabinet met at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday to discuss the most sensitive item on its agenda: the disarming of Hezbollah and the need to restrict…