The Lebanese officials have been tight-lipped about remarks made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said that the Israeli war on Lebanon in late 2024 helped the Lebanese Government begin efforts to disarm Hezbollah resistance group.
No official has so far commented on Netanyahu’s remarks which explicitly shows that the Lebanese Government’s decision on the so-called arms monopoly last week is an implementation of an Israeli-US scheme against the Lebanese resistance group.
“Netanyahu’s remarks embarrass the Lebanese Government, or at least it is supposed to embarrass the Government. The remarks affirm that ‘Israel’ is behind the decisions taken in cabinet sessions on August 5-7,” Ghassan Rifi, Lebanese political analyst, told Al-Manar on Monday.
“The recent decisions along with Netanyahu’s remarks show that Lebanon is moving forward according to the US vision which serves the Israeli interests,” Rifi added.
In a press conference on Sunday, Netanyahu said that “what is currently happening in Lebanon is caused by Israel.”
“The new Lebanese government is speaking of disarming Hezbollah. Who could have believed that? Alright, some of us did and I did, and this is what’s changing the Middle East, as I had promised to do on the second day of the war,” Netanyahu said.
Last week, the Lebanese Government approved on Thursday “objectives” of a US plan to disarm Hezbollah, yielding to US and Israeli pressures.
The cabinet session on August 7 followed another session on August 5, in which the Lebanese Government tasked the Lebanese Army with drafting a plan to confine all weapons to the State by the end of the year.
The Lebanese State is subjected to unprecedented pressure by the United States, the first sponsor of the Zionist entity, to tackle the issue of disarming Hezbollah.
The Israeli enemy continues to bomb Lebanon, mainly the country’s south, almost daily and maintains occupation over five posts along the southern border, in violation of a ceasefire deal reached following a brutal 66-day Israeli war between September and November 2024.
A new poll released on Monday showed that majority of the Lebanese people oppose the disarmament of the resistance in the country. According to a poll conducted by the Consultative Center for Studies and Documentation (CCSD), majority of the Lebanese people, 58% of the respondents, oppose disarming the resistance without agreeing on a defensive strategy, Al-Akhbar Lebanese Newspaper reported on Monday.
Source: Al-Manar English Website
