Israel requests that Lebanon disarm Hezbollah in accordance with truce conditions
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, issued a warning on Sunday that Hezbollah was attempting to re-arm and that if Lebanon did not disarm the militant group, Israel will use its right to self-defense under the ceasefire agreement from last year.
Netanyahu threatened to “act as necessary” if Lebanon did not take action to stop its land from turning into a renewed front at the beginning of a cabinet meeting.
After more than a year of fighting that was triggered by the war in Gaza, the United States mediated a truce between Israel and Lebanon in November 2024; nonetheless, Israeli strikes across the border have persisted intermittently.
The Israeli military claimed to have killed four Hezbollah members in a statement released on Sunday.
The Lebanese government must carry out its pledge to disarm Hezbollah and expel the organization from southern Lebanon, according to Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz.
Katz stated that in order to safeguard Israeli citizens in the north, maximum enforcement measures would be maintained and stepped up.
Hezbollah must be completely disarmed in accordance with the ceasefire agreement, which stipulates that only state security personnel may possess weapons.
By the end of the year, Lebanese army sources told Reuters, they hope to have blown up and opened a new tab so many Hezbollah weapons caches that they had ran out of explosives.
Hezbollah was once the most powerful political organization in Lebanon, but the war with Israel, which claimed thousands of lives and murdered longstanding leader Hassan Nasrallah, seriously damaged the group.
Hezbollah has not objected to the capture of unmanned weapons depots in the south and has openly pledged to uphold the ceasefire. Since the truce in November, it has not shot on Israel.
It has implied that war may break out if the government takes action against the group, but maintains that the disarmament described in the document only refers to the southern part of Lebanon.
