Beirut agrees to disarm Hezbollah

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US envoy Tom Barrack on Monday called on Israel to honor commitments it made under a ceasefire that ended its war with Hezbollah, after the Lebanese government launched a process to disarm the terrorist organization.

Under the November truce agreement, weapons in Lebanon were to be held only by the state, and Israel was to fully withdraw its troops from the country, although it has kept forces at five border points it deems strategic.

However, Hezbollah is refusing to disarm. Last week, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem threatened the Lebanese government over its efforts to disarm his Iran-linked terror group, claiming that there would be “no life in Lebanon” should its weapons be taken by force. He warned that Hezbollah would fight to keep its weapons, saying any forcible seizure would lead to internal unrest, undermining the country’s national security.

“I think the Lebanese government has done their part. They’ve taken the first step. Now what we need is Israel to comply,” Barrack said following a meeting in Beirut with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.

Asked by reporters about whether he expected to see Israel fully withdraw from Lebanese territory, Barrack said that “that’s exactly the next step” needed.

To the US diplomat, “the next step is we need participation on the part of Israel, and we need an economic plan for prosperity, restoration and renovation” in Lebanon, which has been weighed down by dire political and economic crises in recent years.

Barrack said Washington was “in the process of now discussing with Israel what their position is,” adding that “in the next few weeks you’re going to see progress on all sides.”

There was no immediate response from Jerusalem.

The US diplomat’s visit comes less than two weeks after Lebanon’s cabinet tasked the army with developing a plan to disarm Iran-backed Hezbollah by the end of the year — a step unprecedented since civil war factions gave up their weapons decades ago.

A second cabinet meeting on August 7 tackled a US proposal that includes a timetable for Hezbollah’s disarmament, with Washington pressing Lebanon to take action on the matter.

The cabinet endorsed the introduction of the US text, which lists 11 objectives, including “ensuring the sustainability” of the November ceasefire agreement with Israel, and “the gradual end of the armed presence of all non-governmental entities, including Hezbollah, in all Lebanese territory.”

Israel routinely carries out airstrikes in Lebanon saying that it is targeting ceasefire violations, and has signaled it would not hesitate to launch destructive military operations if Beirut failed to disarm Hezbollah.

Barrack on Monday stressed that “dealing with Hezbollah, as we’ve always said, is a Lebanese process.”

No surprise there. I would expect that disarming Hezbollah just isn't going to happen.

Hezbollah can’t survive for long if they confront the Lebanese army - there’s no supply thro Syria anymore; air and sea routes are not enough.
Both Israel and the new radical Syria won’t want a radical Iranian proxy entity on their borders.
And frankly, they turned out not all this powerful, it was all just propaganda.

Their best bet is to accept the Barrack paper - maybe silently - otherwise they will be dead.

Though, I know that they don’t reason like normal humans - Hezbollah are a bunch of brainrot zealot lunatics and traitors - their leader literally was recently talking about how Archangels are gonna join him in their next fight (and nope, not a figurative language ) - imagine to keep the war decision with someone like that.

Nowadays people simply assume that the most militant proponent of any given cause deserves the most respect. American "progressives" seem particularly predisposed to this.

Israeli air strikes have killed at least 10 people in eastern Lebanon, Lebanese officials say, despite a ceasefire.

Israel's military said it had targeted sites belonging to Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim militia and political party, in the Bekaa Valley, an area where the group has a strong presence.
Hezbollah confirmed that at least eight of its members had been killed, including a senior field commander.

The strikes were among the deadliest in Lebanon since a ceasefire ended the war between Israel and Hezbollah in November 2024.

Despite the deal, which followed 13 months of conflict, Israel has carried out near-daily strikes on Lebanon, on targets it says are linked to the group, which is supported by Iran.

Images posted online from one of the locations hit on Friday night showed heavy damage in what appeared to be a residential neighbourhood.

Hezbollah, considered a terrorist organisation by countries including the UK and the US, says the ceasefire deal only applies to southern Lebanon, in the area between the Litani river and the Blue Line, the unofficial border between Lebanon and Israel.

There, the Lebanese army has dismantled infrastructure used by the group, in the first stage of a plan to disarm Hezbollah after its devastating war with Israel.
The group, however, has so far rejected calls from Lebanese authorities to discuss the future of its weapons elsewhere in the country, including in the Bekaa Valley, where part of its arsenal is believed to be located.

This week, Hezbollah dismissed a decision by the government to advance the second phase of the disarmament plan in areas between north of the Litani and the Awali river, in the port city of Sidon.

Lebanon's government says Israel's ongoing actions are a violation of the ceasefire deal and has urged the international community to put pressure on Israel to stop its attacks.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam recently said the situation had become a "one-sided war of attrition".

Hours before the attacks in the east, an Israeli strike hit the densely populated Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Helweh, on the outskirts of Sidon, in the country's south.

There are concerns in Lebanon that Iran might force Hezbollah to join its response to an attack if Israel becomes involved.