Omar Abdel-Baqui and Adam Chamseddine
WSJ, May 28, 2025
“We do see a lot of areas where the Lebanese army is way more effective than expected.”
Lebanon’s army has largely disarmed Hezbollah in its southern strongholds—in part with the help of Israeli intelligence—as the country’s new government moves to enforce a cease-fire that halted an intense wave of fighting with Israel last year.
U.S. and Israeli officials say they have been pleasantly surprised by the progress, which has been critical in maintaining the fragile truce struck in November. The question now is whether the Lebanese state can complete the task in the south and extend its efforts to the rest of the country.
“All over the Lebanese territory, the state should have a monopoly on arms,” Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, knocking his closed fists on a dining table.
The Lebanese government has achieved roughly 80% of its objectives in disarming militias in the southernmost areas of the country, Salam said in the interview.
Israeli intelligence passed along by the U.S. has helped the Lebanese army find and destroy Hezbollah’s remaining weapons stockpiles and military posts in the south, senior Arab officials said. The army says it destroys some of the weapons it confiscates from Hezbollah but keeps whatever is usable, bolstering its own understocked arsenal.
The efforts have allowed the Lebanese army to establish its authority south of the Litani River, controlling exit and entry points in an area that has long been under Hezbollah’s control.
“We do see a lot of areas where the Lebanese army is way more effective than expected,” an Israeli military official said. “The IDF is generally pleased by this trend and we are expecting it to continue,” the official said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.
The Lebanese government is also touting a multiphase plan to disarm Palestinian armed groups in the country, which mostly operate in dense refugee camps. Lebanese security officials in April cracked down on a Palestinian militant cell allegedly involved in launching rockets toward Israel, making rare arrests. …SOURCE