Effort in Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah has effectively collapsed amid renewed regional conflict and deep political paralysis, The New York Times reported on Monday.
In an article entitled “How Lebanon’s Best Chance to Disarm Hezbollah Failed,” the paper’s Abdi Latif Dahir and Aaron Boxerman said that Lebanese leaders early this year appeared closer than at any point in years to addressing Hezbollah’s arsenal, describing the group as a powerful “state within a state.” But the effort, “tentative and incremental from the start has now stalled.”
The report said Hezbollah returned to active confrontation in March following the outbreak of US-Israeli war on Iran, launching cross-border attacks into ‘Israel’ that killed several Israeli soldiers.
“After more than a year of largely holding its fire, despite Israeli strikes from across the border, Hezbollah re-emerged as a major combatant.”
The authors, Beirut-based Dahir and Jerusalem-based Boxerman, said that “Lebanon’s government, wary of Hezbollah’s enduring strength and haunted by memories of civil war, has recoiled from the idea of forcibly seizing its arsenal, despite Western pressure to do so.”
The New York Times quoted an analyst as saying that Lebanon’s political system leaves little room for direct confrontation with the group.
“Any coercive or confrontational process from the army will be complicated because it would require a nonconsensual decision, which is very much against the grain of Lebanese politics,” said Heiko Wimmen of the International Crisis Group.
Window of Opportunity Opened… Then Derailed
The paper noted that the 2024 truce agreement envisioned that Hezbollah “would gradually surrender its weapons, particularly south of the Litani River in exchange for an end to Israeli military operations in Lebanon.”
It added that the idea “seemed to gain momentum after a new president and prime minister took office in Lebanon in early 2025,” referring to President Joseph Aoun and PM Nawaf Salam. It cited government decisions in August and September regarding the so-called arms monopoly.
The report said the process moved ahead, with military officials reporting in October removing “nearly 10,000 rockets and about 400 missiles” from southern areas.
“All of that progress came to a stop on Feb. 28, when Israel and the United States attacked Iran. Within days, Hezbollah fired on Israel in response, demonstrating that it still had a substantial arsenal of rockets and antitank missiles. Its fighters seemed increasingly agile, attacking Israeli troops with new explosive drones that were harder to intercept,” the paper said.
“The standoff has left Lebanon’s government in a bind. It barred Hezbollah in March from engaging in military activity, an order that proved toothless, and now faces mounting pressure to rein it in more effectively,” it added.
The NYT noted that even before the latest escalation, Lebanese authorities had avoided direct confrontation with Hezbollah, wary of triggering internal conflict or reopening civil war wounds.
The report said that Lebanon’s disarmament effort has now stalled under the weight of internal divisions and regional escalation, leaving this “challenge unresolved.”
It referred to an April proposal by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to establish “vetted, trained, and equipped units” within the Lebanese Army to disarm Hezbollah.
“Taking on Hezbollah would seem to require a major overhaul of the Lebanese military, which lacks sufficient personnel, equipment and training, and it is unclear who would pay for that. Gulf states that might back such a project have been strained by the regional war, and Lebanon has not made fiscal reforms that would be required to gain access to international financial assistance,” the paper commented on Rubio’s proposal.
It concluded by quoting Wimmen of International Crisis Group as saying that Lebanon is “facing a moment of truth.”
“Whether it will defer or delay resolving the question of disarmament, or how it will deal with it, will define what’s to come next for the country.”
Source: NYT (edited by Al-Manar English Website)