On 7 August, Lebanon’s cabinet approved a plan to place all weapons under state authority and tasked the army with developing an implementation strategy by the end of 2025. The decision followed U.S. pressure on Beirut amid Israeli threats of renewed military action after last year’s war, in which Hezbollah suffered heavy losses. Qassem denounced the decision as dangerous, claiming it facilitates the killing and displacement of resistance fighters and undermines Lebanon’s sovereignty.

Hezbollah maintains it will only discuss disarmament if Israel withdraws from contested border areas seized during the war, halts airstrikes despite the current ceasefire, releases detained fighters, and commits to rebuilding war-damaged regions.

Escalation Risks And Political Fallout

Qassem warned that street protests against the policy could escalate toward the U.S. embassy in Beirut but said Hezbollah and its ally Amal Movement agreed to delay such demonstrations to allow for dialogue. He held the government “fully responsible” for any internal unrest, insisting its role should be to secure peace and rebuild the country, not “hand it over to an insatiable Israeli aggressor and a boundless American tyrant.”

The disarmament debate remains one of Lebanon’s most divisive political issues, with Hezbollah the only faction to retain its arsenal after the 1975–1990 civil war. The group’s armed clashes with Israel intensified after the Gaza war began in October 2023, expanding to much of Lebanon by September 2024, before a November ceasefire that Hezbollah says Israel has violated over 3,000 times.