Hezbollah MP vows group will not surrender its weapons

(AFP): A Hezbollah lawmaker vowed Saturday that the group will not abandon its weapons, a day after the Lebanese government ordered the army to begin implementing a plan to disarm it.

Amid heavy pressure from the United States and fears Israel might intensify its military operations, the government last month ordered the army to draw up a plan to disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year.

At a meeting on Friday snubbed by Hezbollah and its allies, the cabinet welcomed the army’s plan.

Speaking afterwards, Information Minister Paul Morcos said the army would begin implementing the plan “in accordance with the available capabilities”.

He said the army commander had warned of “constraints” on the plan’s implementation, particularly “Israeli attacks”, and gave no timeframe for the operation.

A government statement conditioned progress on “the commitment of other parties, foremost Israel”.

Lawmaker Hassan Ezzedine said Hezbollah would “not abandon (its weapons) under any circumstances or pretext at all”, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Those who “drew up the sinful, hasty, reckless decision represented by the removal of (Hezbollah’s) weapons and gave in to this decision must reconsider it and correct their mistakes,” he told an event in south Lebanon, where Hezbollah enjoys strong support.

“Otherwise, they will bear the responsibility and the repercussions… that may follow,” he added.

Ezzedine praised the “courageous stance” of the Shiite ministers from Hezbollah and its ally Amal who walked out of the cabinet meeting “when the army commander began explaining and presenting the plan.”

Multi-confessional Lebanon has a sect-based power-sharing system in which, by unwritten convention, legitimacy derives from consensus.

The government says Hezbollah’s disarmament is part of the implementation of a US-brokered ceasefire that ended more than a year of hostilities between its fighters and Israel in November.

Israel has kept up its strikes on Hezbollah targets despite the truce, saying they will continue until the group has been disarmed.

It has also maintained troops in five places in the south it deems strategic.

France called the cabinet’s decision “a new positive step”.

“France calls on all Lebanese actors to support the peaceful implementation of the plan without delay,” the foreign ministry said on Saturday.