Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Thursday that his country was determined to disarm Hezbollah, a day after the group’s chief said those seeking its disarmament were serving Israeli goals.
Beirut is demanding “the extension of the Lebanese state’s authority over all its territory, the removal of weapons from all armed groups including Hezbollah and their handover to the Lebanese army”, Aoun said in a speech to mark Army Day.
Lebanon is under heavy pressure, particularly from the United States, to disarm the Iran-backed militant group, which was left badly weakened by a recent war with Israel but retains part of its arsenal.
Israel has kept up its strikes in Lebanon despite a November ceasefire, saying it is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and operatives, and threatening to continue until the group has been disarmed.
Aoun said that his “duty and the duty of all political parties… is to seize this historic opportunity and push without hesitation towards affirming the army and security forces’ monopoly on weapons over all Lebanese territory… in order to regain the world’s confidence”.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem had said that “anyone calling today for the surrender of weapons, whether internally or externally, on the Arab or the international stage, is serving the Israeli project”.
He accused US envoy Tom Barrack, who has visited Lebanon several times in recent months for talks with senior officials, of using “intimidation and threats” with the aim of “aiding Israel”.
Hezbollah is the only group that retained its weapons after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war.
In his speech, Aoun said Lebanon was at “a crucial stage that does not tolerate any sort of provocation from any side”.
“For the thousandth time, I assure you that my concern in having a (state) weapons monopoly comes from my concern to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty and borders, to liberate the occupied Lebanese territories and build a state that welcomes all its citizens”, he said, addressing Hezbollah’s supporters as an “essential pillar” of society.
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© Agence France-Presse
