Lebanon says four months needed for second phase of Hezbollah disarmament 

Lebanon’s government has said that its military will need at least four months to complete the second phase of its plan to dismantle Hezbollah’s arsenals in the country’s south.

The announcement by Minister of Information Paul Morcos on Monday comes amid growing pressure from the United States and Israel to disarm Hezbollah, including near-daily Israeli attacks on the country.

The bombings come despite Israel agreeing to a US-brokered ceasefire in 2024 to end more than a year of cross-border hostilities with Hezbollah.

The conflict left the Lebanese armed group badly weakened, with much of its leadership killed.

Under the ceasefire deal, Lebanon’s government committed to dismantling Hezbollah’s arsenal and tasked its military with drawing up a plan to do so.

The military said last month that it had completed the first phase of the plan, covering the area between the Litani River, about 30km (19 miles) at its deepest point in Lebanon, and the country’s southern border with Israel.

The second phase concerns the area between the Litani and the Awali rivers, about 40km (25 miles) south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

Morcos, the Lebanese information minister, told a news conference after a cabinet session that the government “took note of the army leadership’s presentation” on the second stage of the plan.

“There is a timeframe of four months, extendable depending on available capabilities, Israeli attacks and hindrances on the ground,” he said.

Hezbollah, which has dismissed efforts to disarm it as a US-Israeli plan, has rejected calls to surrender weapons north of the Litani River, saying it understands the ceasefire agreement to apply “exclusively south” of the waterway.

Before the cabinet session on Monday, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said that “what the Lebanese government is doing in focusing on disarmament is a grave sin, because this issue serves the goals of the Israeli aggression”.

“Stop all action to restrict weapons,” he added in a televised address, saying the government’s “successive concessions” were partly to blame for Israel’s persistent attacks.

Qassem’s comments came as the Israeli military launched new raids on southern Lebanon, striking a bus in the town of Hanin and a car in the town of Talloussah and killing at least two people.

The Israeli military confirmed the attack on Talloussah, saying it attacked a Hezbollah fighter who was trying to rebuild the group’s infrastructure in southern Lebanon.

Israel has previously criticised the Lebanese military’s progress on disarming Hezbollah as insufficient.

In addition to the regular strikes, it also continues to occupy five areas in Lebanese territory, blocking the reconstruction of destroyed border villages and preventing tens of thousands of displaced people from returning to their homes.

According to the United Nations, the Israeli military had launched more than 10,000 air and ground attacks in the year since it agreed to halt hostilities.

The UN’s rights office said in November last year that it verified at least 108 civilian casualties from Israeli attacks since the ceasefire, including at least 21 women and 16 children.

At least 11 Lebanese civilians were also abducted by Israeli forces during that time period, the office said.

Lebanon filed a complaint with the UN last month about the repeated Israeli violations, urging the UN Security Council to push Israel to end its attacks and fully withdraw from the country.