Lebanon says Hezbollah disarmed in south; Israel: Efforts ‘encouraging’ but insufficient

Beirut’s announcement marks potential milestone after 2024 truce; Jerusalem: Hezbollah ‘rearming faster than it is being disarmed’; Lebanon again calls for Israeli withdrawal

The Lebanese army announced Thursday that it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah, covering the area in the country’s south between the Israeli border and the Litani River.

The announcement marked a potential milestone more than a year after a ceasefire ended a year-long war between the terror group and Israel. For decades, Hezbollah had been the most powerful force in Lebanon’s south.

But Israel, which maintains a troop presence in a number of key locations in southern Lebanon to defend the border, was skeptical about the Lebanese claim.

In a statement, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) said it had “achieved the objectives of the first phase” of its plan in an “effective and tangible way.” But it added that there was more work to be done to clear unexploded ordnance and tunnels in the area, with an intention to extend its work to the rest of Lebanon.

The Lebanese army had set a year-end deadline to clear non-state weaponry — code for arms belonging to the Iran-backed terror group — from southern Lebanon. It says it has extended operational control over the south, except for the handful of areas still controlled by Israeli troops. Hezbollah, which has rejected efforts to disarm, did not immediately comment.

Israel sounded a cautious note on the announcement, saying the efforts from Beirut to disarm the terror group were “encouraging” but insufficient, and adding in a second statement that “Hezbollah is rearming faster than it is being disarmed.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Hezbollah’s disarmament was “imperative for Israel’s security and Lebanon’s future.” It added that efforts by the Lebanese government and the LAF “are an encouraging beginning, but they are far from sufficient, as evidenced by Hezbollah’s efforts to rearm and rebuild its terror infrastructure with Iranian support.”

In a subsequent statement, the Foreign Ministry said “extensive Hezbollah military infrastructure still exists south of the Litani River,” and that the mission to disarm the terror group in that area “remains far from being achieved.” It alleged what it called “regrettable” cooperation between Hezbollah and some LAF units.

The ministry included a video pointing out alleged military sites that Hezbollah has reestablished in the southern Lebanese town of Beit Lif.

A Lebanese security source told Reuters that Thursday’s announcement signaled that no group would be able to launch attacks from southern Lebanon. The announcement said that the LAF will take measures to “permanently prevent armed groups from rebuilding their capabilities.”

The announcement comes more than 13 months after a truce in the Israel-Hezbollah war, which began when the terror group began firing missiles across the border on October 8, 2023 — a day after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.

The November 2024 ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel followed an Israeli ground invasion and concurrent air assault that severely degraded the group and killed much of its leadership. The accord required both Israel and Hezbollah to vacate southern Lebanon, to be replaced by the LAF.

It also stipulated that only Lebanon’s state security forces are allowed to carry arms. Israel has withdrawn from all but five strategic posts along the border as the disarmament efforts have proceeded, and conducts frequent strikes on Hezbollah forces and posts that it accuses of violating the ceasefire.

In a move that highlighted the fragile state, the IDF said Thursday that it struck the Zaita area of southern Lebanon Thursday afternoon, citing “continued violations of the ceasefire understandings.” Lebanon’s health ministry said a person was killed in the strike on a vehicle on a road near Zaita.

The military later said the strike succeeded in killing a Hezbollah drone operator, identified as Alaa Khourani, who was involved in rehabilitating the terror group’s military infrastructure, activating forces, and attempting to collect intelligence on IDF troops in the area.

The IDF said Khourani’s activities constituted a violation of the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon, adding that it will continue to act to remove any threat and defend Israel.

Since the truce with Hezbollah took effect, the IDF says it has killed over 390 Hezbollah operatives and members of allied terror groups in strikes, hit hundreds of Hezbollah sites, and conducted over 1,200 raids and other small operations in southern Lebanon.

Lebanon has faced growing pressure from the US and Israel to disarm Hezbollah. Its leaders fear Israel could dramatically escalate strikes across the battered country to more quickly push Lebanon’s leaders to confiscate Hezbollah’s arsenal.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu told cabinet ministers that US President Donald Trump had given the green light for a fresh Israeli offensive against the group, Kan news reported, without citing sources.

The report said both Jerusalem and Washington were unhappy with the Lebanese government’s efforts to tackle the Hezbollah threat, though it did not say whether a major assault on Hezbollah was imminent.

Last week, Lebanese officials said Hezbollah had received “last-chance advice” from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey to hand over its weapons to Lebanon’s government, according to UK-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat.

According to the sources, the countries warned Hezbollah that failing to do so could isolate Lebanon politically and economically, and lead to a war with Israel that would deepen anti-Hezbollah sentiment within Lebanon.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was en route to Beirut for a visit on Thursday, Channel 12 reported.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said that the army deployment in the south aimed to affirm the principle that “decisions of war and peace” belonged to the state alone, and “to prevent the use of Lebanese territory as a starting point for any hostile acts.”

But he added that lasting stability remained contingent upon addressing key issues, chief among them “the continued Israeli occupation of parts of Lebanese territory and the establishment of buffer zones within it.”

In a statement, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, affirmed support for the army and “its achievements which would have been nearly complete were it not for Israel’s occupation of numerous locations and its daily violations.”

The Foreign Ministry argued in its statement that ongoing IDF attacks against Hezbollah do not get in the way of Lebanon’s campaign to disarm the terror group, and that they actually support that effort.

“Israel expects LAF efforts to disarm Hezbollah to continue south of the Litani and throughout all other parts of Lebanon, in full accordance with the ceasefire agreement,” said the ministry.

Aoun and the Lebanese army said that international support must be expedited so that the army could continue making progress in establishing a state monopoly on arms.

UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said it was “great to see” the army had “assumed operational control south of the Litani.” “This is undeniable progress. Hard work lies ahead,” she wrote on X.