4 hours agoLebanon asks the army to prepare a plan to disarm Hezbollah
Periskopi(10 months ago)
(10 months ago)Lebanon's government has commissioned the army to draft a plan to ensure that only state institutions possess weapons by the end of the year -- a move aimed at disarming Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. The announcement by Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salaam came after a nearly six-hour cabinet meeting. He said [...]
The announcement by Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salaam came after a nearly six-hour cabinet meeting.
He said the government asked the military for the plan to prepare by the end of the month for discussion and approval, foreign media write, Telegrafi conveys.
After the meeting, Salam spoke of the state's “task of monopolising possession of weapons”, Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) reported.
The decision comes after massive pressure from Washington on Beirut to disarm Hezbollah, including a July visit by US envoy Tom Barack, who called for a more decisive policy.
However, as the cabinet was gathering on Tuesday afternoon, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem rejected calls for his group to surrender weapons.
Any time presented for implementation under ... Israeli aggression cannot be approved”, he said in a televised speech.
Hezbollah has been severely weakened by a 14-month conflict with Israel that ended in November with a US-brokered ceasefire.
Some of the leaders of the group died, thousands of his warriors were killed, and most of his weapons were destroyed. /Periscope/
