Lebanon is reportedly preparing an official “unified” response to a proposal by US envoy Tom Barak urging the complete disarmament of the Hezbollah terrorist army by next October, in exchange for a halt to Israeli military operations and the withdrawal of the IDF from five strategic sites in southern Lebanon.
Many of the medium and heavy weapons owned by Hezbollah in the south have been confiscated by the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and/or destroyed by Israel, according to sources quoted Thursday by the Saudi-owned Al-Hadath news outlet.
More than 80 percent of the area south of the Litani River is now under control of the LAF, the news outlet reported.
But a political decision is required for Lebanon to impose control over the area north of the Litani River, where medium and heavy weapons are still in the hands of Hezbollah, military sources said. The problem: representatives of Hezbollah and its ally, Amal, comprise a significant segment of the Lebanese Parliament as well as the country’s government.
Such a move will be difficult at best; Hezbollah has yet to reach a consensus on the necessity of handing over its weapons to the LAF.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, a former LAF chief of staff, told the news outlet that it is not possible to create an independent Hezbollah unit in the armed forces. “Rather, its members can join the army and undergo absorption courses, as happened at the end of the war in Lebanon with various parties in the early 1990s,” he said.
Nasrallah’s successor, Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem, has repeatedly announced he is engaged in reorganizing the organization and filling operational and command vacancies.
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) allegedly control more than 80 percent of the area south of the Litani River; the November 2024 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon calls for the complete disarmament of Hezbollah and the removal of its weapons, infrastructure and operatives to the area north of the Litani River.
“Informed sources who spoke with Al Hadath confirmed that approximately 10,000 fighters within the ranks were completely out of service due to the recent ‘support war’ and the number of Hezbollah fighters is currently estimated at approximately 60,000,“ the news outlet reported.
The recent war with Israel cost Hezbollah more than 4,000 lives, including military commanders, combat unit commanders and members of various units, in addition to more than 3,000 wounded, according to the report.
Moreover, some 2,000 fighters left the ranks following Israel’s assassination of former Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.
The Iranian proxy has reportedly closed most of its training centers in southern Lebanon and the Beka’a Valley as a result of the constant Israeli enforcement of the ceasefire terms. The IDF attacks and often eliminates the Hezbollah operatives who violate the agreement.
Hezbollah’s financial resources have also declined due to tighter controls on border crossings with Syria, through which the terrorist army smuggled money and weapons.
