The deployment of the Lebanese army in south Lebanon in parallel with conflicting reports about the ongoing hesitation of the Lebanese government to enforce the disarmament of Hizbullah first while dismantling the armed militia under the implementation of UNSC resolution 1701 is at the heart of Lebanese politics and the center of the contacts held by the U.S. administration in Lebanon.
Reports praise the merits of the Lebanese army’s actions in taking over 196 Hizbullah strongholds out of 260 south of the Litani river while seizing an undisclosed number of weapons depots in south Lebanon belonging to the Shiite militia and its ongoing activity in removing Hizbullah’s fortified positions in the south. However, other reports still point to the fact that the Lebanese army has deployed barely six thousand soldiers in south Lebanon and is still missing at least another four thousand to complete its deployment.
Moreover, reports have shown blatant cooperation between Shiite intelligence officers belonging to the Lebanese army’s southern command and Hizbullah elements. It is also worth mentioning that at least 50 to 60 percent of the deployed soldiers belong to the Shiite community and maintain family/tribal bonds with Shiite residents in the south who identify with Hizbullah.
However, the most critical issue remains that the Lebanese government has not presented to U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus, as requested, a precise schedule of both the deployment of the Lebanese army to the south and the timing of Hizbullah’s dissolution. Even the issue of the disarmament of the armed Palestinian factions in Lebanon, including Hamas, which was supposed to be taken care of before the dismantling of Hizbullah, has not been addressed by the Lebanese government, to the disappointment of the American administration.
As usual, the Lebanese government stressed the intricacies of Lebanese sectarian politics that prevent it from adopting a stricter attitude towards Hizbullah and emphasized the easy way to slide into renewed civil war, a possibility that would be disastrous for all. The Lebanese also stressed to their American visitors that the precarious situation on the northeastern border with Syria has compelled the army to direct to that front troops meant for deployment in the south.
Instead, the Lebanese preferred to show 18 new reforms addressing the financial sector and to claim that a complete Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon would assert its position vis-a-vis Hizbullah and make it easier to adopt an aggressive policy against Hizbullah.
In the meantime, Hizbullah has expressed its readiness (according to Reuters quoting an undisclosed Hizbullah senior official) to discuss its disarmament, conditioned first by Israel’s withdrawal from five strategic positions it maintains along the Lebanese-Israeli border. In the meantime, the terrorist organization continues to flex its muscles, reorganize in south Lebanon, and prepare itself for a resumption of hostilities with Israel.
