Hezbollah ready to discuss arms if Israel withdraws, report says
Hezbollah is ready to discuss its disarmament if Israel withdraws from the five strategic hills it is still occupying in south Lebanon, a report said.
A senior Hezbollah official was quoted as saying that the group is ready to hold talks with President Joseph Aoun about its weapons in the context of a national defense strategy if Israel withdraws from south Lebanon and stops its strikes and violations.
President Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have both vowed to monopolize weapons in the country and extend the state's authorities across all Lebanese territories, but Aoun said that disarming Hezbollah could only happen through dialogue and communication and not by force.
Hezbollah and Amal sources had told TV network al-Jadeed that "Hezbollah is not against the exclusivity of arms in the hands of the state" and has been cooperating with the army in the handover of its arms south of the Litani river - a claim validated by President Aoun.
The sources said the resistance’s arms should be approached as part of a national strategy but only after the liberation of the five hills and the Lebanese captives and after Israel halts its strikes on Lebanon.
Source: Naharnet
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