Lebanon’s PM vows to disarm country’s south after new president threatens Hezbollah
Najib Mikati signals intent to enforce Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire amid warnings IDF could stay in Lebanon past deadline should Beirut fail to rein in Iran-backed terror group
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Friday that the state will begin disarming southern Lebanon, and particularly the area south of the Litani River, to establish its presence there, in line with the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group.
Israeli officials have reportedly accused the Lebanese Armed Forces of failing to deploy quickly enough across southern Lebanon, and warned that this could lead the IDF to remain there past the end of January — the ceasefire agreement’s deadline for an Israeli withdrawal.
In his statement Friday, Mikati said: “We are in a new phase — in this new phase, we will start with south Lebanon and south Litani specifically in order to pull weapons so that the state can be present across Lebanese territory.”
Mikati’s statement echoed comments made by Lebanese Armed Forces chief Joseph Aoun after he was elected president on Thursday, at the end of a two-year stalemate.
The US- and Saudi-backed general, whom Hezbollah opposed, vowed after his election that the Lebanese government would hold “a monopoly” on the right to carry arms — a thinly veiled threat against the Iran-backed terror group’s extensive arsenal.
Israel and Hezbollah have accused each other of violating the ceasefire agreement, which ended 14 months of war.
On Sunday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would be “forced to act” if Hezbollah does not recede north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border with Israel — as stipulated by the agreement.
And last week, the IDF said it struck Hezbollah rocket launchers south of the Litani “after the request [to remove the threat] was not handled by the Lebanese army.”
Meanwhile, the IDF has advised some 60,000 northerners displaced by Hezbollah’s rocket fire not to return home until March — a month after the initial, 60-day phase of the November 27 ceasefire agreement.
Over the years, the Lebanese Armed Forces have failed to enforce two UN Security Council resolutions demanding the disarmament of all of Lebanon’s various militias, and the withdrawal of Hezbollah north of the Litani.
The current ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah is the latest attempt by the United States to get the Lebanese army to enforce the 19-year-old measure amid hopes it would now be possible with Hezbollah severely weakened.
The agreement came two months after Israel escalated operations in Lebanon — all but decimating Hezbollah’s leadership — in a bid to end Hezbollah’s persistent attacks.
Unprovoked, Hezbollah started attacking Israel on a near-daily basis on October 8, 2023 — a day after fellow Iran-backed terror group stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
