Lebanese Army chief briefs govt. on Hezbollah’s disarmament as Israel strikes
INTERNATIONAL – ASIA
7 OCTOBER 2025
- Lebanon’s Army chief briefed the government for the first time on its plan to disarm the militant group Hezbollah, while Israel carried out air strikes in southern and northeastern Lebanon that killed two persons.
- Hezbollah has rejected the plan, saying it won’t discuss disarmament as long as Israel continues to occupy several hills along the border and carries out almost daily strikes.
- Hezbollah was badly weakened during its latest war with Israel that ended with a ceasefire in November 2024.
- The Lebanese government first aimed to disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year, but officials later said resources are too limited to meet the deadline.
- The current aim is to fully clear a stretch along the Lebanon-Israel border, defined as south of the Litani river, by the end of November before moving into further phases.
- Lebanon’s Army has suffered from the repercussions of the country’s economic meltdown six years ago.
- Western and Arab countries have offered support.
- Recently, the Trump administration approved $230 million to Lebanon’s Army and police forces.
- The most recent Israel-Hezbollah war killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused an estimated $11 billion worth of destruction, according to the World Bank.
- In Israel, 127 people died, including 80 soldiers.
- The war started when Hezbollah began firing rockets across the border on October 8, 2023, a day after a deadly Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza.
- Israel responded with shelling and air strikes in Lebanon, and the two sides became locked in an escalating conflict that became a full-blown war in September 2024.
