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 Wednesday.
Aoun made the remarks during a dinner hosted by Lebanon’s ambassador to Washington, Nada Hamadeh Mouawad, in honor of the president and his delegation. The event was attended by members of Congress and US administration officials.
The dinner was held Tuesday evening on the final day of Aoun’s official visit to Washington, where he met with US President Donald Trump.
“Hezbollah can be disarmed if we are honest about what it truly requires: ending the occupation, the army assuming full control, and a reconstruction program 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, demobilization 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 program 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 Defense Minister Michel Menassa, Army Chief of Staff Hassan Audi, Higher Defense 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.
