Lebanese FM rejects Gulf nations’ demand that Hezbollah disarm

By Agencies 29 January 2022, 11:32 pm

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Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah (right) speaks during a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bouhabib, in Beirut, Lebanon, on January 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s foreign minister headed to Kuwait today to deliver answers to a list of policy suggestions made to the country by Persian Gulf nations in an attempt to end an impasse between both sides.

Ahead of his departure, Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib made it clear that Lebanon will not disarm the Iran-funded Hezbollah terror group, one of 10 confidence-building measures requested from Beirut.

Relations between impoverished Lebanon and the wealthy Gulf states are at their lowest levels in decades, a crisis triggered late last year when a Lebanese politician spoke critically of the Saudi-led war against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen.

Following Information Minister George Kordahi’s comments, Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador from Beirut and banned all Lebanese imports, affecting hundreds of businesses and cutting off hundreds of millions in foreign currency flows to Lebanon. Several Arab countries followed Saudi Arabia’s step.

Bouhabib will attend an Arab foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuwait tomorrow, during which he will hand his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah official responses to the Gulf nations’ suggestions. Al-Sabah had delivered them personally to Beirut earlier this month.

“I am not going to hand over Hezbollah’s weapons nor end Hezbollah’s existence. This is out of the question in Lebanon,” Bouhabib told satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera, calling the group a “Lebanese party par excellence” that is active in the government but does not dominate politics in Lebanon.

“We hope to have excellent relations as in the past” with Gulf nations, Bouhabib said, adding that Lebanon had suggestions for solving problems between the two sides, but without elaborating.

The list handed over by Kuwait’s foreign minister and circulated in Lebanese media included calls for implementing US Security Council resolution 1559, which calls for the disarmament of all militias in Lebanon; major anti-corruption reforms; and the cessation of all verbal or real attacks on Gulf nations.