The cabinet said the military would begin executing the plan to establish a state monopoly on arms, but it offered no timetable and acknowledged limited capabilities, according to officials after the meeting. Information Minister Paul Morcos stopped short of declaring formal approval and tied progress to reciprocal steps, reflecting the government’s earlier endorsement of a U.S.-backed roadmap.

Five Shiite ministers walked out during the cabinet session, highlighting the sectarian sensitivities surrounding any move on Hezbollah’s weapons.

Hezbollah’s Red Lines

Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qmati called the cabinet session “an opportunity to return to wisdom and reason, preventing the country from slipping into the unknown,” but said implementation should stay on hold unless Israel halts strikes and pulls back. He added the group “unequivocally rejected” both the tasking of the army to devise the plan and the cabinet’s approval of a U.S. roadmap, urging instead a national defense strategy.

Last month, Hezbollah’s Secretary General Naim Qassem warned there would be “no life” in Lebanon if the state tried to move against the group and hinted at street protests, raising the spectre of deeper internal strife.

The Israel Factor

Israel has indicated it would scale back forces in southern Lebanon if Beirut takes concrete steps to disarm Hezbollah. But strikes have continued, with several people killed in the south this week, complicating any de-escalation sequence.

UN peacekeepers also reported Israeli drones dropping grenades near personnel during road-clearing work, an incident they described as among the most serious since the current hostilities paused last November—another reminder of the fragile environment in which any plan would be carried out.

The U.S. Roadmap—and the Missing Timeline

Lebanon’s cabinet previously approved a U.S.-led roadmap that pairs steps toward disarmament with an Israeli halt to operations in Lebanon. Analytical summaries of the text describe a synchronized, time-boxed process, including an early cease to Israeli strikes and a path to fully disarm Hezbollah by year-end—details that domestic opponents dispute and Hezbollah rejects under current conditions.