Lebanese Army Says It Has Secured First-Ever Monopoly on Arms in Southern Border Zone

Beirut — Lebanese army claims control of weapons in the south

The Lebanese army said Thursday it has completed the first phase of a U.S.-backed plan to disarm Hezbollah and other armed factions in southern Lebanon, declaring it now holds an “effective and tangible” monopoly on weapons in the border region for the first time in decades.

In a statement issued in Beirut, the Lebanese Armed Forces said they had “achieved their initial goal” of asserting state control over the area between the Litani River and the Israeli frontier, excluding a handful of strategic hilltops that remain under Israeli occupation.

The move is a key step in implementing a 2024 ceasefire that halted Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and was designed to push Hezbollah’s heavy weapons out of the south. It is also the most ambitious attempt since the country’s civil war to enforce long-ignored U.N. resolutions calling for all non-state arms to be removed from the border zone.

Lebanon’s government hailed the announcement as a turning point in re-establishing state sovereignty. Israel said it was an “encouraging beginning” but insisted Hezbollah remained heavily armed and continued to rebuild with Iranian help. Hezbollah, for its part, has allowed the army to deploy but rejected any notion of nationwide disarmament.

What the army says it did

The army said the first phase of its plan involved sending additional units into the south, dismantling tunnels and firing positions, and “restricting weapons” to state forces and U.N. peacekeepers. Engineers are still working to clear unexploded ordnance and search for remaining underground networks, the statement said.

A Lebanese security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details publicly, said the declaration meant “no group is now able to use southern Lebanon to launch attacks” without the army’s knowledge or intervention.

Government backing—and a message to foreign arms suppliers

The announcement followed a Cabinet meeting chaired by President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. In a joint statement, the government endorsed the army’s actions and urged it to work toward a “state monopoly over arms in all Lebanese territory as quickly as possible.”

Aoun called on foreign governments “to refrain from sending weapons to any Lebanese party except state institutions,” a pointed reference to Iran’s longstanding supply of missiles and other arms to Hezbollah.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a veteran Shiite leader and close Hezbollah ally who helped broker the 2024 ceasefire, also backed the army’s move. He said residents of the south were “thirsty for the army’s presence and protection,” according to comments carried by local media—a notable signal of support from within the Shiite political camp.

Ceasefire terms and the 1701 framework

The current disarmament drive stems from a ceasefire agreement signed on Nov. 26, 2024, and mediated primarily by the United States with French involvement. The deal halted weeks of intense fighting that followed Israel’s ground offensive into southern Lebanon and airstrikes that killed thousands and displaced more than a million people.

Under the terms announced at the time, Hezbollah was required to pull its fighters and heavy weapons north of the Litani River, roughly 30 kilometers from the Israeli border. Israel agreed to withdraw its troops from most of southern Lebanon, while maintaining a temporary presence on five “strategic positions” along the frontier. About 5,000 Lebanese soldiers were to deploy in coordination with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

The arrangement was explicitly tied to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted after the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. That resolution called for “no weapons or authority” south of the Litani other than the Lebanese state and U.N. forces, and for the disarmament of all armed groups outside state control.

Implementation was partial and slow for nearly two decades. Hezbollah maintained a strong, mostly concealed presence in the south, arguing that its arms were needed to deter Israel. The 2024 war—which saw the killing of longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli strike and heavy losses among the group’s elite units—created new pressure and an opening for the state to move in.

Lebanese leaders set an internal deadline in August 2025, instructing the army to establish a state monopoly on arms south of the Litani by the end of that year. Thursday’s statement was presented as confirmation that this target has now been met.

Competing interpretations of what “disarmament” means

Hezbollah has not publicly challenged the army’s deployments in the south and has largely stayed out of the area with overt forces since the ceasefire took effect. But its officials reject the idea that the group is being disarmed, and dispute how far the ceasefire obligations extend.

The group’s parliamentary bloc has said that Lebanon has “fulfilled its obligations” by redeploying heavy weapons north of the Litani and accused the United States and Israel of trying to turn the ceasefire into a vehicle for dismantling the “resistance.” Hezbollah lawmakers have urged the government not to make further concessions while Israeli forces continue to strike targets in Lebanon and occupy parts of its territory.

Hezbollah maintains that the agreement applies exclusively south of the Litani River and has ruled out any discussion of its arsenal in the rest of the country as long as Israel retains a military presence in Lebanon and in the disputed Shebaa Farms area.

Israel has taken a far broader view of the ceasefire. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Lebanon’s efforts were “an encouraging beginning” but “far from sufficient, as evidenced by Hezbollah’s efforts to rearm and rebuild its terror infrastructure with Iranian support.” The ceasefire “states clearly, Hezbollah must be fully disarmed,” the statement said.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has claimed Hezbollah is “rearming faster than it is being disarmed,” circulating satellite images and maps that it says show remaining weapons sites and tunnels south of the Litani. Those assertions could not be independently verified.

UNIFIL officials, by contrast, have said they have seen no evidence that Hezbollah has rebuilt significant infrastructure in the south since the war. Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon, described the army’s current deployment as “undeniable progress” but warned that “hard work lies ahead.”

Strikes продолжают, donors watch—and a risky next phase

Despite the ceasefire, Israeli aircraft continue to carry out regular strikes on Lebanese territory, particularly north of the Litani, targeting what the Israeli military describes as Hezbollah positions and weapons convoys. Human rights groups and local authorities say the strikes have killed dozens of civilians since late 2024.

Lebanese officials have linked the disarmament plan to broader efforts to pull the country out of economic collapse. Western and Gulf donors have signaled that credible state control over the south and a reduction in the risk of renewed war with Israel are key conditions for large-scale reconstruction aid and financial support.

The army’s next task may prove far more contentious. Government officials say a second phase of the plan is expected to extend northward, toward the Awali River just north of the coastal city of Sidon. That would bring state efforts to “contain weapons” into more densely populated areas where Hezbollah’s political and social influence runs deep.

The army commander is due to present a detailed proposal for that phase to the Cabinet in February, officials said. Analysts and diplomats warn that any attempt to forcibly seize or neutralize Hezbollah’s weapons in those areas could risk clashes between the army and the group, raising the specter of internal conflict.

For now, the Lebanese state has taken a step long described as unattainable: its flag, rather than Hezbollah’s yellow banners, flies over most armed positions in the country’s south. Whether that shift marks the beginning of a broader reordering of power in Lebanon—or proves to be a carefully limited accommodation that leaves the country’s fundamental security balance intact—will be tested as the ceasefire frays and the army moves closer to Hezbollah’s heartland.