August 5/2025 Yesterday afternoon, the Lebanese cabinet held a critical meeting to discuss one of the most controversial topics in the country: Hezbollah’s weapons. This issue is not a new one , it has echoed since the early 2000s , but today, it has become the star of the show. For the first time, Lebanon is awakening to the idea that these weapons may pose a real threat to the country’s sovereignty, rather than being its savior. This shift began with the presidential inaugural speech, which declared: “If we want to build a nation, we must all be under the rule of law and the judiciary. There is no place for mafias, drug trafficking, or money laundering in Lebanon.” The president also vowed to assert the state’s exclusive right to bear arms and expressed his intention to invest in the Lebanese military to secure the borders particularly in the South and along the contested eastern and northern frontiers. During the parliamentary sessions to grant the government a vote of confidence, Prime Minister Nawwaf Salam strongly emphasized that all weapons must be under the control of the Lebanese government and only the government. Now, for the first time, the cabinet has convened to declare that Lebanon will not repeat the mistakes of its past. Not to forget The new U.S. administration, led by President Donald Trump, has made it a top priority, reflected in the recent visits of envoys such as Morgan Ortagus and Tom Barrack.
CABINET TAKES FIRST OFFICIAL STEP
On Tuesday, Lebanon’s cabinet took a step many thought would never come: it tasked the Lebanese army with preparing a clear plan to establish a state monopoly on weapons by the end of the year . A direct challenge to Hezbollah’s decades-long military autonomy. This marks the first time the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons was openly discussed at the cabinet level, something unimaginable when the group was at its peak just two years ago.
U.S. PRESSURE LOOMS LARGE
Behind the scenes, the U.S. is pushing hard. The new Trump administration made Lebanon’s disarmament file a top priority. Envoys have floated proposals: a full disarmament plan for Hezbollah in exchange for Israel stopping its strikes and withdrawing from disputed areas in the South. But Lebanon is walking a tightrope pressured from Washington, but still mindful of internal sectarian balances.
QASSEM: NOT BACKING DOWN
As the cabinet met for nearly six hours at Baabda Palace, Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem was delivering a fiery televised speech. His message was clear: the group will not accept disarmament dictated by foreign agendas. “We are a fundamental component of Lebanon,” he said, warning that Hezbollah will respond if Israel escalates. Qassem read and rejected every clause of the U.S. proposal live on air, calling it a national security threat.
WHAT WILL THE FINAL STATEMENT SAY?
The stakes are dangerously high. Foreign envoys and Lebanese officials alike fear that a vague decision or no decision at all could provoke Israel into a wider military response, even targeting Beirut. While last November’s U.S.-brokered ceasefire officially ended the conflict, Israel has continued its pinpoint strikes on what it claims are Hezbollah weapons storage sites in the South. The calm, it seems, is deceiving.
