To this end, Rajji said, he was disappointed that Hezbollah did not believe disarmament to be in the interest of the Lebanese public, and indeed in its own interest as a political party.<\/p>\n
\t \u201cThe credibility of the state today depends on the extent to which it extends its authority over all Lebanese territory and confines the weapons of all armed groups to the legitimate security forces in its own territory, and with weapons exclusively in its hands,\u201d he said, as \u201conly then will the international community take us seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDisarming Hezbollah and dismantling its military structure are a Lebanese demand, regardless of the international demand,\u201d he stressed, likely referring to pressure from the US and Israel to force Hezbollah to give up its weapons.<\/p>\n Contrary to Hezbollah\u2019s claims, its weapons have failed to \u201csupport Gaza,\u00a0liberate Jerusalem or defend Lebanon\u201d from Israeli attacks, said Rajji, explaining why the Lebanese government was eager to see it disarm.<\/p>\n He told the outlet that the Lebanese Armed Forces were determined to seize all Hezbollah weapons in southern Lebanon by the end of the year, before widening its operations to disarm the terror group in areas further north at the start of 2026.<\/p>\n Hezbollah \u201cprovokes the government every day with the talk by its chief, Sheikh Naim Qassem, about rearming,\u201d said Rajji, a day after Qassem accused Beirut of giving Israel a \u201cfree concession\u201d by dispatching a civilian rather than a military envoy to attend the first direct talks with Israel in decades on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \t The meeting at the UN peacekeeping forces\u2019 headquarters in Naqoura, Lebanon, was held under the auspices of the \u201cCessation of Hostilities Implementation Mechanism\u201d \u2014 made up of US, UNIFIL, Israeli, French, and Lebanese officials \u2014 which is aimed at pushing forward with the November 2024 ceasefire.<\/p>\n Israel was represented at the meeting by the National Security Council Deputy Director for Foreign Policy Uri Resnick, while Lebanon was represented by former ambassador to the US Simon Karam.<\/p>\n Acknowledging the unexpected choice to send a civilian representative rather than a military one, Rajji told Al Arabiya that he hoped doing so was a \u201cpositive step\u201d which could \u201cspare Lebanon a large-scale military operation by Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n Israeli and US officials have warned that the IDF could embark on a major operation if the Lebanese government fails to make progress in disarming Hezbollah.<\/p>\n Unnamed Israeli officials have described the meeting as productive, saying that representatives of both countries had agreed to come to the follow-up sit-down with proposals for promoting economic cooperation in areas such as agriculture, technology, transportation and infrastructure.<\/p>\n Lebanon\u2019s portrayal of the meeting differed somewhat, with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam rejecting the possibility of economic cooperation before normalization \u2014 which Lebanon has conditioned on the creation of a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n \u201cLebanon is very far from signing a peace deal with Israel,\u201d Rajji likewise told Al Arabiya, adding that Karam was holding talks with Israel only on \u201cmilitary issues\u201d such as an end to Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon and the withdrawal of the IDF from there.<\/p>\n \t And it was too soon to tell whether Rajji\u2019s hope of avoiding a renewed Israeli military campaign was realistic, as on Thursday, the day after the meeting, the IDF launched a wave of airstrikes against what it said were Hezbollah weapons depots in southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n Tensions in Lebanon have ratcheted up in recent weeks. The IDF accuses Hezbollah of violating the November 2024 ceasefire and has intensified its strikes against terror group targets, including killing its chief of staff in a rare strike in Beirut last month.<\/p>\n Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hezbollah was required to vacate southern Lebanon, while Israel was given 60 days to do so. The IDF later withdrew from all but five posts along the border with Lebanon, citing the incomplete dismantling of Hezbollah\u2019s infrastructure in the country\u2019s south.<\/p>\n In addition to hundreds of airstrikes amid the ceasefire, the military said, ground troops have conducted over 1,200 raids and other small operations in southern Lebanon, mostly in areas surrounding the five \u201cstrategic\u201d border posts, to prevent Hezbollah from restoring its capabilities.<\/p>\n The operations included demolishing terror infrastructure, thwarting Hezbollah intelligence collection efforts, and other activities to damage the terror group\u2019s capabilities, the army said. During the raids, troops located numerous weapons, rocket-launching sites, and other buildings used by Hezbollah, the army added.<\/p>\n Israel invaded Lebanon in September 2024 in a bid to secure the return home of some 60,000 residents displaced by Hezbollah\u2019s near-daily attacks on northern Israel starting October 8, 2023 \u2014 a day after fellow Iran-backed group Hamas invaded southern Israel, sparking the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t You clearly find our careful reporting valuable, in a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u00a0exclusive content\u00a0available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n Thank you, \t\t\t
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AFP__20240922__36GX4G7__v2__HighRes__TopshotLebanonIsraelPalestinianConflict-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tNaim Qassem (R), then-deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah, and Mohammed Raad (C), head of Hezbollah\u2019s bloc in the Lebanese parliament, attend the funeral of top Hezbollah military commander Ibrahim Aqil in Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs on September 22, 2024. (AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AFP__20250106__36T332Y__v1__HighRes__LebanonIsraelPalestinianUsConflict-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tA handout picture provided by the Lebanese Army Press Office shows Lebanese Armed Forces Commander General Joseph Aoun (C-R) meeting with US special envoy Amos Hochstein (C-L) at his office in Yarze, east of Beirut on January 6, 2025. (Lebanese Army Press Office \/ AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AFP__20251016__793N66R__v1__HighRes__LebanonHezbollahIsraelConflictArmyStrikes-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tA firefighter douses the flames of a fire that took over a cement manufacturing complex following a series of Israeli airstrikes, in the village of Ansar, near Doueir, southern Lebanon, on October 16, 2025. (Mahmoud Zayyat\/AFP)<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tYou appreciate our journalism\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/DH-new-headshot-circular.png\" "\\"\\"\/")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n