The Lebanese military will begin implementing its plan to disarm the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group, information minister Paul Morcos said, following a government session discussing the matter on Friday.
“The Lebanese army will begin implementing the [Hezbollah disarmament] plan, but in accordance with the available capabilities, which are limited in terms of logistics, material and human resources,” Morcos said when speaking to journalists after the session.
However, the cabinet decided to keep the details of the army’s plan “secret,” according to a statement read by Morcos.
Upon the arrival of the army chief, Gen. Rudolph Haikal, to the meeting, ministers from Hezbollah’s political bloc, as well as the allied Shiite Amal party and an independent Shi’ite minister, Fadi Makki, withdrew from the room. The Hezbollah and Amal ministers then left the government palace.
The Shi’ite ministers had also walked out in protest from an earlier meeting in August in which the Cabinet commissioned the army to draw up a disarmament plan under which only state institutions would have weapons by the end of the year.
Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the terms
Morcos also claimed that Israel had not held up its end of the agreement laid out in a US-brokered ceasefire that halted the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November.
People inspect damaged bulldozers, excavators, and other vehicles in the aftermath of overnight Israeli airstrikes said to be targeting Hezbollah, on an industrial complex servicing heavy construction machinery in the coastal town of Ansariyah in southern Lebanon on September 4, 2025 (MAHMOUD ZAYYAT / AFP)
“Israel, like Lebanon, has clear obligations” under the agreement, Morcos said. “However, its continued violations constitute evidence of its reneging on these obligations and seriously threaten regional security and stability.”
Under the US-brokered ceasefire, Hezbollah and Israel were both required to withdraw from south Lebanon, though Israel has kept forces in several areas it deems strategic. It continues to conduct strikes across Lebanon in response to what it says are ceasefire violations.
Israel has said its strikes aim to prevent Hezbollah from rearming and to protect residents of its northern border area, and will withdraw from sites in Lebanon that its troops still occupy if Hezbollah lays down its weapons. But Hezbollah has rejected any move to dismantle its arsenal.
A French peacekeeper of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) stands by munitions formerly used by Iran-backed Hezbollah at a position that was held by the group in the Khraibeh Valley in el-Meri in south Lebanon on August 27, 2025. (ANWAR AMRO / AFP)
Calls for Hezbollah’s disarmament have taken center stage in Lebanon since the terror group sustained heavy losses in a yearlong conflict with Israel. The results of that war, which ended last November, upended a power balance that had long been dominated by the Shi’ite Muslim group.
Since then, Hezbollah has been under increasing domestic and international pressure to give up its remaining arsenal, including from Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, who, under pressure from the United States, has pushed for the terror group to disarm.
After the Lebanese government’s decision in August to pursue a disarmament plan, Hezbollah accused the government of caving to American and Israeli pressure and said it would “treat this decision as if it does not exist.”
Supporters of Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group block the streets with burning tires as they rally in cars and motorbikes to protest the government’s endorsement of a plan to disarm it, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, early on August 8, 2025. (Ibrahim AMRO / AFP)
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.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah erupted when the Iranian-backed terror group began launching rockets at northern Israel in support of Hamas after it led the October 7 massacre in southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage to Gaza.
It eventually escalated into open war between Israel and Hezbollah by September 2024, which ended with a ceasefire at the end of November that year.
Is The Times of Israel important to you?
If so, we have a request.
Every day, even during war, our journalists keep you abreast of the most important developments that merit your attention. Millions of people rely on ToI for fast, fair and free coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
We care about Israel – and we know you do too. So today, we have an ask: show your appreciation for our work by joining The Times of Israel Community, an exclusive group for readers like you who appreciate and financially support our work.
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You appreciate our journalism
You clearly find our careful reporting valuable, in a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.
Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically since October 7.
So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel