President Joseph Aoun’s advisor, Brigadier General Andre Rahal, met Friday with the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammad Raad, in an implicit attempt to reassure Hezbollah amid heightened tensions over the government’s decision to disarm non-state actors, particularly the Iran-backed group.
According to the National News Agency, Raad received Rahal at his office in Beirut’s southern suburbs “for talks focused on current domestic affairs, ongoing developments, and the positions of the various parties concerned.”
In other words: the issue of illegal weapons and the decision made by the Cabinet on August 5 tasking the army with presenting a plan for the disarmament of armed groups – including Hezbollah – by the end of the month. This decision was reaffirmed during the Cabinet session of August 7. The disarmament plan is expected to be implemented and completed by year’s end.
The presidential advisor’s visit to the southern suburbs came a day after his meeting in Ain al-Tineh with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Hezbollah’s ally, to discuss the same subject.
Since the two Cabinet sessions devoted to the weapons issue, relations have cooled between the Presidency and the Shiite duo, who reproach both the President and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam for acting hastily.
For the President and the Prime Minister, however, the decision to centralize all weapons in the hands of the state is irreversible.
Hezbollah, which continues to oppose the move, has escalated its resistance. Its Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, lashed out at the authorities, issuing repeated threats of civil war, while Hezbollah MPs and officials targeted the Prime Minister in particular, even going so far as to accuse him of “treason.”
Meanwhile, protest rallies were organized by Hezbollah supporters in the group’s strongholds across Lebanon.
These two visits were not necessarily aimed at breaking the ice between the two sides but are expected to pave the way for discussions on the disarmament mechanism, which the President had begun exploring informally prior to the two Cabinet meetings.
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