Lebanon Bans Hezbollah Military Activity
In a major policy shift, Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has announced a formal ban on all military and security activities by Hezbollah. The move follows renewed attacks by the Iran-backed group on Israel and aims to reassert state authority and prevent Lebanon from being drawn deeper into the regional conflict.
The decision comes after Hezbollah launched a volley of rockets and drones at Israel on March 2, 2026. The group claimed the attack was "revenge for the blood" of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a joint US-Israeli operation. The attack was the first Hezbollah had claimed on Israel since a ceasefire in 2024. In response to the Hezbollah attack, Israeli airstrikes targeted areas in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, killing at least 31 people and injuring 149, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Prime Minister Salam condemned Hezbollah's actions as an "irresponsible and suspicious act that jeopardises Lebanon's security." The ban faces significant enforcement challenges, as Hezbollah's military wing is widely considered to be more powerful than the Lebanese Armed Forces. In 2021, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed the group had 100,000 trained fighters. The government has instructed the army to prevent any military operations launched from Lebanese territory. This is not the first time calls have been made for Hezbollah's disarmament. The 1989 Taif Agreement, which ended Lebanon's civil war, and UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which followed the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, both stipulated that only the Lebanese state should have weapons. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, a former judge at the International Court of Justice and UN ambassador, comes from a prominent Sunni political family. He has previously stated his commitment to implementing UN resolutions and extending the state's authority over all of Lebanon's territory. Public opinion on Hezbollah within Lebanon is sharply divided, largely along sectarian lines. A 2024 poll showed that while trust in the group was low among Sunni, Druze, and Christian populations, it remained very high within the Shiite community. However, a more recent poll in April 2025 indicated that over half of Lebanon's Shiites viewed Iran, Hezbollah's main backer, negatively.
