Protests erupt in Lebanon against government's controversial disarmament plan for Hezbollah

On Thursday evening, supporters of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement demonstrated in various locations, including Beirut, south Lebanon, and the eastern Bekaa region, demanding that the government overturn the decision that undermines national defense against Zionist regime’s aggression.

Pro-Resistance demonstrators set tires on fire at the Saint Michael's Church intersection in Beirut in protest to the Lebanese government's decision to disarm Hezbollah.

Protesters warned that if Hezbollah is stripped of its weapons, southern Lebanon will be defenseless against continual Israeli attacks.

Although the Hezbollah resistance movement has not yet released an official statement, it previously condemned the government’s decision as a grave mistake that would diminish Lebanon's ability to confront ongoing Israeli aggression.

The movement argues that disarming the resistance strips Lebanon of its deterrence power against Israel, leaving the country vulnerable to further attacks.

Lebanon's cabinet has reconvened to discuss disarmament, despite Hezbollah's previous rejections of such moves, which are largely driven by US demands.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced that ministers approved the “objectives” of the US proposal, which would restrict weapon possession strictly to the state.

During the discussions, Hezbollah Political Council Deputy Chief Mahmoud Komati criticized the government's decision as a surrender to Israeli and US interests, asserting that a state should not confront resistance in its own territory while being occupied.

The Lebanese government plans to move forward with the proposal that aims to limit arms to six official forces by the end of the year.

As Israeli aggression continues, killing multiple individuals just this week, the US proposal to disarm Hezbollah seeks to ensure that all weapons are under state control by the end of 2025, which includes implementing a phased disarmament plan.

Under this plan, the Lebanese government would issue a decree committing to full disarmament and work toward a peaceful resolution of tensions in the region.

Supporters of the Lebanese resistance flood the streets of southern Beirut to protest against the government's decision to disarm Hezbollah.

Addressing demands by some Lebanese politicians for Hezbollah to disarm, Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem on Tuesday rejected calls for the Lebanese resistance to disarm, urging the government to prioritize confronting decades-long Israeli aggression as the root cause of Lebanon’s problems.

He emphasized that resistance is a covenantal matter requiring national consensus, not unilateral decisions.

Sheikh Qassem said the resistance is a cornerstone of the 1989 Taif Agreement, which ended years of civil war.

He urged the Lebanese government to focus on confronting Israeli aggression rather than disarming the resistance, criticizing external pressures from the United States and certain Arab states.

Hezbollah was formed in 1982 with a mandate to defend the country in the face of Tel Aviv, which has been occupying the country’s Shebaa Farms on the common border with Syria since 1967, as well as the regime’s increasing regional expansionism drive.

Ever since, both the regime and the United States, its biggest supporter, have been mounting pressure on the country to have the movement.

The pressure has grown since 2023 after Hezbollah began staging solidarity operations in support of the Gaza Strip that had come under a genocidal Zionist regime’s war.

It soon evolved into heavily Washington-backed, escalated Zionist regime’s aggression against the country that went on to claim the lives of more than 4,000 people.

Hezbollah itself has vowed to continue defending the nation, as it successfully has throughout both the escalation and the two full-scale Israeli wars in the 2000s. It has warned the Lebanese against succumbing to the pressure tactics that are aimed at serving the regime’s expansionist ambitions.