Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji affirmed Wednesday that the state’s monopoly over weapons is “irreversible,” stressing that the plan prepared by the army for this purpose will be submitted to the government in September.
“The decision to place all weapons exclusively in the hands of state forces is a historic one taken by the government. The army will present its plan to the government in September, though it may request an additional two weeks to finalize it,” Rajji revealed in an interview with Al-Hadath TV channel.
He described the move as historic, noting that “Lebanon has endured decades of occupation and domination by factions that have nothing to do with it.” “But now, that era is over,” he stressed.
Rajji added that Lebanon has asked US envoy Tom Barrack, who was in Beirut on Monday, to press Israel to honor its commitments under the November 2024 ceasefire agreement, now that the process of disarming armed groups has begun.
Under that agreement, Beirut pledged to demilitarize the entire area south of the Litani River and dismantle all Hezbollah military structures nationwide. In return, Israel would withdraw its forces from five positions where it still maintains a presence along the southern border.
When asked about Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem’s rejection of surrendering the group’s weapons to the state and his threats of civil war, the minister reiterated that the state monopoly over arms is a decision “that cannot be reversed.”
“Those who speak of civil war are the ones intending to ignite it,” Rajji charged, adding that “the Shia community today is being held hostage by Hezbollah, which exploits it.”
He denounced the fact that Iran is arming “a group that stands outside the framework of the state.” “This is something I cannot accept,” he stressed, explaining that his decision not to receive Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary, Ali Larijani, during his controversial August 13 visit to Beirut, was “due to the verbal attacks by his country’s leaders against the Lebanese state.”
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