Lebanon says Hezbollah will be disarmed south of Litani within months

By AFP 9 September 2025, 2:27 pm

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Fighters from the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah carry out a training exercise in Aaramta village in the Jezzine District, southern Lebanon, May 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanon’s army will have fully disarmed Hezbollah near the border with Israel within three months, Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi tells AFP.

Raggi says army chief Rodolphe Haykal presented the government with a five-stage plan last week to implement a policy setting the Lebanese state as the only legitimate bearer of arms.

The first stage should take “three months… during which the removal of weapons will be completed south of the Litani River,” in November, he says.

Israel has demanded for years that armed Hezbollah activity be barred south of the Litani, which is located some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the Israeli border in many places.