US Envoy: Israel May Act Unilaterally If Lebanon Does Not Disarm Hezbollah

SadaNews - US envoy to Syria Tom Braque warned that Israel may take military action unilaterally if the Lebanese government continues to hesitate in implementing its decision to confine weapons to the state.

Braque considered that disarming Hezbollah is not only an Israeli security demand but also represents - as he put it - "an opportunity for Lebanon to renew itself."

According to his statements, regional partners are ready to invest provided that Lebanon restores its monopoly on legitimate power led by its armed forces.

On August 5, the Lebanese government decided to confine arms - including Hezbollah's weapons - to the state and tasked the army with developing a plan to accomplish this within a month and implement it before the end of 2025. However, this decision faced objections from Hezbollah and the Amal Movement.

Hezbollah's Secretary-General Naim Qassem has repeatedly confirmed that the party will only surrender its weapons if Israel withdraws from Lebanese territories, stops its aggression against the country, releases prisoners, and begins reconstruction.

In October 2023, Israel launched an aggression against Lebanon, which transformed into a full-scale war in September 2024, killing more than 4,000 people and injuring approximately 17,000 others.

Despite reaching a ceasefire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel in November 2024, Israel has violated it more than 4,500 times, resulting in at least 276 fatalities and 613 injuries, according to official data.

In defiance of the agreement, Israel occupies 5 Lebanese hills that it seized during the recent war, in addition to other areas it has occupied for decades.