Israel Pushes Back on Lebanon Assertion That Hezbollah Is Disarmed in South
Damage from an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, Jan. 6. Israel has fired missiles and rockets regularly into Lebanese territory in recent months, raising fears that a ceasefire with Hezbollah agreed to in late 2024 would collapse.
Photographer: Mahmoud Zayat/AFP/Getty Images
Israel pushed back against Lebanon’s announcement that militias in the south of the Arab country had been disarmed, saying efforts to force Hezbollah to lay down its weapons were “far from sufficient.”
In a statement on Thursday, the Lebanese army said it achieved the first phase of a larger strategy to disarm all militias on its soil. The move is aimed at lowering tensions with neighboring Israel and stopping it from returning to war with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group that has long dominated southern Lebanon.