Lebanon’s Cabinet met Friday to review a plan drafted by the Lebanese army aimed at disarming Hezbollah and placing all weapons under state control, as the group's allies walked out of the meeting.
Upon the arrival of the army chief, Gen. Rudolph Haikal, ministers from Hezbollah’s political bloc, as well as the allied Shiite Amal party and independent Shiite minister Fadi Makki withdrew from the meeting room. The Hezbollah and Amal ministers then left the government palace.
The Shiite ministers had also walked out in protest from the meeting last month in which the Cabinet commissioned the army to draw up a disarmament plan.
"The Lebanese army will begin implementing the (Hezbollah disarmament) plan, but in accordance with the available capabilities, which are limited in terms of logistics, material and human resources," Information Minister Paul Morcos said when speaking to journalists after the session.
The cabinet decided to keep the details of the army's plan "secret" according to a statement read by Morcos.
Since a U.S.-brokered cease-fire halted the latest Israeli attacks in November, Hezbollah has been under increasing domestic and international pressure to give up its remaining arsenal.
Hezbollah officials have said that the group will not consider disarmament until Israel withdraws its forces from five strategic hills they are occupying inside Lebanese territory and halts its near-daily airstrikes.
After last month’s decision to pursue a disarmament plan, Hezbollah accused the government of caving to United States and Israeli pressure and said it would "treat this decision as if it does not exist.”
A Hezbollah official who spoke on condition of anonymity, in accordance with the group’s procedures, said Friday that the ministers had agreed to withdraw when the army commander arrived "because we consider that this plan comes out of an illegal decision... and we will not debate a matter that is built on a basis that we do not recognize as legal.”
Lebanese officials have so far proceeded with caution on disarmament, fearing that an attempt to take Hezbollah’s remaining weapons by force could trigger civil conflict.
Since the cease-fire, the Lebanese army has regularly collected caches of weapons and ammunition from the area south of the Litani River, from which Hezbollah has largely withdrawn, but the group’s heavier missiles and drones have remained hidden.
The Israel-Hezbollah war killed over 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused destruction worth $11 billion, according to the World Bank. Much-needed international funding for reconstruction is likely to be contingent on Hezbollah's disarmament.
In the days ahead of Friday’s cabinet session, Israel intensified its strikes in southern Lebanon. Lebanese health officials said Thursday that a series of Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon the day before killed four people and injured 17, including four children.
Lebanon’s foreign ministry, in a statement, condemned the strikes and called on "the international community to pressure Israel to halt its ongoing attacks and respect Lebanon’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the safety of its people.”
U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon criticized Israel on Wednesday for dropping four grenades from a drone near peacekeepers in what it called one of the most serious attacks on its personnel since the November cease-fire. Israel claimed it did not intentionally target the peacekeepers, instead excusing the incident by saying it dropped several sonic bombs near a suspect in the border area — one of many justifications it routinely offers for unlawful attacks and regional aggression.
