Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has set three conditions for the possible disarmament of Hezbollah, beginning with an end to the Israeli occupation of areas in southern Lebanon, according to a Lebanese presidency statement on Wednesday.
Aoun made the remarks a day earlier during a dinner hosted by Lebanon’s ambassador to Washington, Nada Hamadeh Mouawad. Members of Congress and US administration officials attended the event.
“Hezbollah can be disarmed if we are honest about what it truly requires: ending the occupation, the army assuming full control, and a reconstruction programme managed solely by the state,” Aoun said.
“The armed group is not a foreign mercenary force, but is made up of Lebanese citizens shaped over four decades by ideological, social and military investment into a non-state armed group operating outside government control,” he said.
“This reality does not make the goal less urgent, but it makes the method more important,” he added.
Citing examples from other conflicts, including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland, Aoun said the path forward is clear: “disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration.”
He said the process begins with removing the root cause long cited by Hezbollah to justify its existence: Israel’s occupation of Lebanese territory.
“It continues with the Lebanese army assuming full and exclusive operational control, which requires immediate and unconditional support for Lebanon’s military as the country’s only legitimate defender,” he added.
“The process ends with reintegration through a reconstruction programme run solely by the Lebanese state and coupled with real economic opportunities so that weapons are no longer the only option,” the president said.
In a separate development, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the start of Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanese territory marks “the beginning of a path” that the state will continue to pursue until a full withdrawal from all Lebanese territory is achieved.
Salam made the remarks during a visit to Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh in the Nabatieh district of southern Lebanon, a day after Lebanese army units began deploying in the town under the first phase of a framework agreement, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Salam was accompanied by Defence Minister Michel Menassa, Army Chief of Staff Hassan Audi, Higher Defence Council Secretary-General Mohammed al-Mustafa and other senior officials.
“This is a national moment that carries significant political and moral dimensions, because it represents the beginning of the Israeli withdrawal from our land,” he said.
During the visit, Salam raised the Lebanese flag in the town square.
“What we are witnessing today is merely a beginning, but we are determined and steadfast, and we will continue to mobilise all our political and diplomatic efforts to secure the complete withdrawal from all Lebanese territories,” he added.
“The Lebanese Army and security forces are present to protect our returning people, and in parallel with completing the army’s deployment, we will continue to open roads, clear rubble and secure basic services, enabling our people to return safely and with dignity to their homes and villages,” Salam said.
On June 26, Lebanon and Israel signed a framework agreement providing for a phased Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Lebanese territory, but it does not include a timetable for the withdrawal.
Instead, it links completion of the process to the Lebanese army assuming full security responsibility in areas vacated by Israeli forces and the disarmament of armed groups, including Hezbollah.
According to official Lebanese figures, Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed 4,328 people and injured 12,230 others since March 2.
Israel continues to occupy parts of southern Lebanon, some of which have been held for decades and others seized during the war between October 2023 and November 2024.
