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As calls for Lebanon’s Hizbollah to disarm gain momentum, a senior official of the group said it is ready to hold talks with the Lebanese president about its weapons if Israel withdraws from south Lebanon and stops its strikes.
US-backed President Joseph Aoun, who vowed when he took office in January to establish a state monopoly on the control of arms, intends to open talks with Hizbollah over its arsenal soon, three Lebanese political sources said.
Discussion of disarmament has intensified since the power balance was upended by last year’s war with Israel and the toppling of Hezbollah’s Syrian ally, ex-President Bashar Al Assad.
Hizbollah emerged severely weakened from the 2024 conflict with Israel when its top leaders and thousands of its fighters were killed and much of its rocket arsenal destroyed.
The senior Hizbollah official said the group was ready to discuss its arms in the context of a national defence strategy but this hinged on Israel pulling out its troops from five hilltops in south Lebanon.
“Hizbollah is ready to discuss the matter of its arms if Israel withdraws from the five points, and halts its aggression against Lebanese,” the senior official told Reuters.
Hizbollah’s position on potential discussions about its arms has not been previously reported. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity due to political sensitivities.
Hizbollah’s media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The presidency declined to comment.
Israel, which sent ground troops into south Lebanon during the war, has largely withdrawn but decided in February not to leave the five hilltop positions. It said it intended eventually to hand them over to Lebanese troops once it was sure the security situation allowed.
Despite a ceasefire since November, Israeli air strikes have kept pressure on the group while Washington has demanded Hizbollah disarm and is preparing for nuclear talks with Hizbollah’s Iranian backers.
Hizbollah has been the most powerful of the paramilitary groups Iran has backed across the region, but its supply lines to Iran via Syria have been cut by Assad’s removal.
Reuters reported on Monday that several Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq are prepared to disarm for the first time to avert the threat of an escalating conflict with the Trump administration in the US.
Hizbollah has long rejected calls from its critics in Lebanon to disarm, describing its weapons as vital to defending the country from Israel. Deep differences over its arsenal spilled into a short civil war in 2008.
The group’s critics say the group has unilaterally dragged Lebanon into conflicts and the presence of its large arsenal outside of government control has undermined the state.
A US-brokered ceasefire with Israel requires the Lebanese army to dismantle all unauthorised military facilities and confiscate all arms, starting in areas south of the Litani River, north of the Israeli border.
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