Govt. 'welcomes' army's weapons monopoly plan, asks for monthly reports

Cabinet on Friday welcomed the Lebanese Army's weapons monopolization plan and decided to keep its details confidential while asking the army to submit monthly reports on its implementation, Information Minister Paul Morcos said after a key session that witnessed a walkout by all five Shiite ministers.

“The army will begin implementing the plan according to its available and limited capabilities,” Morcos added.

“The army has the right to evaluate its plan according to the operational situation and that might require extra time,” the minister said.

“Any progress toward implementing the U.S. paper hinges on Israel's steps,” he went on to say.

The five Shiite ministers had walked out of the session as Army Commander General Joseph Haykal joined it to present the army’s plan.

The ministers of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement withdrew from the session and were followed by independent Shiite minister Fadi Makki. The five ministers later left the Baabda Palace after reportedly holding a brief meeting with an adviser of President Joseph Aoun. TV networks meanwhile said that Makki "put his resignation at the disposal of the president.”

"Our walkout was in line with our rejection of discussing the American paper," Labor Minister Mohammad Haidar of Hezbollah said.

"The army chief is presenting his plan in the cabinet session and we’ll await its results to act accordingly and contacts are still ongoing," Haidar added, clarifying that the Shiite ministers walked out of the session but have not resigned from the government.

"We’ll wait for what will happen in the session before taking our decision, and any decision taken without the Shiite community’s representatives would be against the National Pact," he added.

A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press that the ministers had agreed to withdraw when the army commander arrives “because we consider that this plan comes out of an illegal decision... and we will not debate a matter that is built on a basis that we do not recognize as legal.”

Lebanese officials have so far proceeded with caution on disarmament, fearing that an attempt to take Hezbollah’s remaining weapons by force could trigger civil conflict.

Since the ceasefire, the Lebanese Army has regularly collected caches of weapons and ammunition from the area south of the Litani River, from which Hezbollah has largely withdrawn, but the group’s heavier missiles and drones have remained hidden.

Hezbollah has said that the plan plays into the hands of Israel and the United States.

In August, under heavy U.S. pressure and fearing Israel would intensify its strikes, Lebanon's government ordered the army to draw up a plan for disarming Hezbollah by the end of the year.

Hezbollah reiterated its opposition to the move on Wednesday, with its parliamentary bloc calling on Lebanese authorities to "reverse their... unpatriotic decision."

The government says disarming Hezbollah is part of implementing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement from November that ended over a year of hostilities between the group and Israel.

Friday's cabinet session came after intensified Israeli air strikes on southern Lebanon over the past two days, which killed at least five people, according to the health ministry and the state-run National News Agency.

David Wood, a senior Lebanon analyst at the International Crisis Group, told AFP that "Israel is trying to send a message that only concrete action on disarmament, rather than pledges and words, will do the job."

Should the cabinet approve the plan, Wood said Hezbollah could consider other options like "imposing pressure on the Shiite ministers to resign from the government" or "trying to organize mass protests."

In an attempt to ease tensions, Speaker of Parliament and head of the Amal Movement Nabih Berri called on Sunday for discussions to be "a calm and consensual dialogue."

- 'New era' -

In late August, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said "the path of monopolizing arms, extending state authority and monopolizing decisions on war and peace is a path that has begun and there is no turning back."

Ahead of the session, posters depicting Salam and President Joseph Aoun were put up in the streets of Beirut with the caption: "We are all with you. One army, one arsenal, one state. A new era for Lebanon".

Hezbollah was the most powerful political force in Lebanon before its most recent war with Israel, able to sway and disrupt governments.

The balance of power has since shifted, with Hezbollah badly weakened by the war as well as the overthrow of its ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

"A solution must be found, and it is preferable that it be done in a proper manner, and that disarmament be achieved through mutual understanding," Abdul Rahman Trabulsi, a 60-year-old Beirut resident, said, adding that he believes Hezbollah's role "has ended."

In contrast, Ali Khalil, a 20-year-old restaurant worker, said that "weapons will not be taken, it's impossible," adding, "let them go first and fix the government and the state, then think about the weapons".

"If they decide today to seize the weapons, there will be a confrontation," he added.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem has accused Lebanon's government of handing the country to Israel by pushing for its disarmament.

Qassem also said Hezbollah and Amal had postponed a previous call for protest to allow room for discussion and "to make adjustments before we reach a confrontation that no one wants."

However, he added, "if it is imposed on us, we will face it."

Hezbollah was the only group to keep its weapons after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, doing so in the name of resistance against Israel, which occupied the south until 2000.