A ceasefire proposal agreed to by Lebanon and Israel stipulates that only "official military and security forces" in Lebanon are authorised to carry arms in the country, according to a copy of the deal dated on Tuesday and seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
A soldier stands guard next to a poster with the images of late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and late senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, at the entrance of Beirut's southern suburbs, November 27, 2024. Reuters/Thaier Al-Sudani
A ceasefire proposal agreed to by Lebanon and Israel stipulates that only "official military and security forces" in Lebanon are authorised to carry arms in the country, according to a copy of the deal dated on Tuesday and seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
It specifically names those forces as the Lebanese Armed Forces, the Internal Security Forces, General Security, State Security, Lebanese customs and municipal police.
Officials in both the Lebanese government and Iran-backed Hezbollah have long referred to cabinet statements since 2008 enshrining the right to "resistance" as providing official approval for Hezbollah's arsenal.
The truce proposal refers to both sides' commitment to fully implementing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, including provisions that refer to the "disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon".
Hezbollah has not formally commented on the ceasefire but senior official Hassan Fadlallah told Lebanon's Al Jadeed TV late on Tuesday that while the group supported the extension of the Lebanese state's authority, the group would emerge from the war stronger.
"Thousands will join the resistance... Disarming the resistance was an Israeli proposal that fell through," said Fadlallah, who is also a member of Lebanon's parliament.
Reporting by Laila Bassam and Maya Gebeily
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) announced Sunday it had come under fire on three separate occasions while Blue Helmet troops were conducting patrols around their bases in Yater, Qalaouiye (Bint Jbeil) and Deir Kifa (Tyre).
The Israeli military revealed Sunday that Ayman Mohammad Ghazali, the man who carried out a deadly attack on a Detroit-area synagogue, was the brother of a Hezbollah anti-tank missile unit commander eliminated by an Israeli airstrike just days earlier.
Pope Leo made an impassioned plea on Sunday for an immediate ceasefire in the expanding Iran war, lamenting "atrocious violence" that he said had killed thousands of non-combatants and caused suffering across the region.
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