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22-12-2025
BEIRUT: Lebanon is close to completing the disarmament of Hezbollah in the south of the Litani River before a year-end deadline as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel, according to Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.
Saturday’s statement comes as the country races to fulfil the key demand in the US-backed deal agreed in November last year and ended more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
The agreement requires the disarmament of the Iran-aligned Lebanese armed group, starting in areas south of the river adjacent to Israel.
Lebanese authorities, led by President Joseph Aoun and Salam, tasked the US-backed Lebanese army on August 5 with devising a plan to establish a state monopoly on arms by the end of the year.
“Prime Minister Salam affirmed that the first phase of the weapons consolidation plan related to the area south of the Litani River is only days away from completion,” a statement from his office said.
“The state is ready to move on to the second phase namely (confiscating weapons) north of the Litani River based on the plan prepared by the Lebanese army pursuant to a mandate from the government,” Salam added.
Committee meeting
The statement came after Salam held talks with Simon Karam, Lebanon’s top civilian negotiator on a committee overseeing the Hezbollah-Israel truce.
In a meeting on Friday, the committee focused on how to return displaced people to their homes, addressing civilian issues to help prevent renewed war if the year-end deadline to disarm Hezbollah is not met.
The 15th meeting of the committee reflected a longstanding US push to broaden talks between the sides beyond monitoring the 2024 ceasefire.
At Friday’s meeting in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Naqoura, civilian participants discussed steps to support safe returns of residents uprooted by the 2023-24 war and advance economic reconstruction, the US Embassy in Beirut said.
Since the ceasefire, Israeli warplanes have repeatedly targeted parts of Lebanon, mostly southern Lebanon, but sometimes even the capital.
Israel says it is questioning the Lebanese army’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah.
Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim armed group, has tried to resist the pressure from its mainly Christian and Sunni Muslim opponents in Lebanon as well as from the US and Saudi Arabia to disarm, saying it would be a mistake while Israel continues its air strikes on the country.
Israel has publicly urged Lebanese authorities to fulfil the conditions of the truce, saying it will act “as necessary” if Lebanon fails to take steps against Hezbollah.
Earlier, a crucial meeting bringing together Israeli and Lebanese representatives, among others, is scheduled to take place on Friday, with the potential relaunch of an expanded Israeli war on Lebanon hanging over the gathering.
The meeting in the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura is the second to include civilian representatives from Lebanon and Israel, after the first took place on December 3, amid Israeli attacks. The meetings are ostensibly to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah last year, despite the fact that Israel has violated the agreement on a regular basis.
Since October 8, 2023, Israel has killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon after its war with the Lebanese group began. A ceasefire was agreed on November 27, 2024, but since then, Israel has killed more than 300 people, including at least 127 civilians, according to the United Nations. The talks come as Israel continues to attack Lebanon on a near-daily basis and threatens to expand its war on the country. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
