Lebanon says state should hold monopoly on arms, in indirect jab at Hezbollah

Lebanon’s government said Monday the state should be the sole bearer of arms, in a thinly veiled message on Hezbollah’s arsenal that came hours ahead of a deadline to fully implement a truce with Israel.

Information Minister Paul Morcos was reading a draft of the cabinet’s roadmap that must be submitted to a confidence vote in parliament so the new government can exercise its powers.

Hezbollah was the only Lebanese armed group that refused to surrender its weapons to the state following a 1975-1990 civil war.

Calls for its disarmament have multiplied since a year-long war between the group and Israel ended with a fragile ceasefire deal that took effect on November 27.

The statement recalled “the state’s duty to monopolize bearing arms and enforcing state sovereignty over all its territory solely through its own forces,” as well as “liberating all Lebanese territory,”

It also vowed to implement “fully, impartially and without selectiveness” United Nations Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Under Resolution 1701, only the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and UN peacekeepers can deploy in southern Lebanon.

The new government also promised to uphold the commitments of its predecessor with regards to the November 27 ceasefire deal.

Under the agreement, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south alongside United Nations peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period that was later extended to February 18.

Hezbollah was also to pull back north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

The government will also work towards keeping Lebanon out of regional conflicts and preventing the country from “being used as a platform to attack friendly states.”

Lebanon’s government also vowed to launch a dialogue over border control and non-interference with new authorities in neighboring Syria, where rebels ousted Hezbollah ally Bashar al-Assad on December 8.

Syria was the dominant power in Lebanon for three decades under the Assad family, with Damascus only withdrawing Syria’s troops in 2005 following mass protests triggered by the assassination of Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafik Hariri.

His murder was blamed on Assad and Hezbollah.