Lebanon Bans Hezbollah's Military Activities
In a major policy shift, Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has banned all military and security activities by Hezbollah. The move came just hours after the Iran-backed group attacked Israel and appears to be an attempt to insulate Lebanon from the widening regional conflict.
Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist movement founded with Iranian support in 1982, has long operated as a "state within a state." Its military wing is considered more powerful than the Lebanese Armed Forces, and the group provides extensive social services, runs schools, and operates a television network, creating deep societal roots. The demand for the group's disarmament is not new. Following the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 unanimously called for the disarming of all armed groups in Lebanon so that the Lebanese state would have sole authority. However, the resolution was never implemented, and Hezbollah's arsenal has grown significantly since. The recent Hezbollah attack was explicitly framed as retaliation for the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a joint US-Israeli operation. This action directly tied Lebanon to a much larger regional conflict, despite prior warnings from Lebanese officials not to embroil the country in the escalating war. Israel's response to the Hezbollah attack was swift and severe, with heavy airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut and other parts of Lebanon. According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, these retaliatory strikes killed at least 31 people and injured more than 140, demonstrating the immediate and devastating cost to Lebanon for actions taken by Hezbollah. Lebanon's government operates under a delicate sectarian power-sharing agreement, with the prime minister traditionally being a Sunni Muslim, the president a Maronite Christian, and the speaker of parliament a Shia Muslim. Hezbollah and its political allies hold significant power within this system, including seats in parliament and cabinet positions, making the Prime Minister's ban a direct challenge to a major political and military force. Prime Minister Salam's cabinet declared that the decision of war and peace rests exclusively with the state and ordered the military to prevent any attacks launched from its territory. The government's declaration also explicitly obligates Hezbollah to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese state, a demand the group has resisted for decades.
