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BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Hezbollah dismisses Lebanon's move to restrict arms as ''a grave sin'
Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia militant and political movement, says it will disregard a decision by Lebanon's government to task the army with establishing a state monopoly on arms."We will treat this decision as if it does not exist," Hezbollah said in a statement on Wednesday, describing it as a "grave sin".The comments come despite mounting international pressure for the group to Iranian-backed group was significantly degraded in last year's war with Israel but has, so far, refused to give up its arsenal, despite calls from the US and domestic rivals. Hezbollah also said that the Lebanese cabinet's decision to try and confine arms supply and production to state forces was the result of American "diktats".It added that it was open to dialogue and discussions on "the national security strategy", but not "in the context of aggression".On Tuesday, Lebanon's cabinet asked the military to present a plan that will see all arms brought under state control by the end of the plan is to be presented to the cabinet by the end of this month for discussion and approval, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told a press conference after the six-hour cabinet meeting. In June, American officials presented a roadmap to Lebanese authorities that proposed Hezbollah's full disarmament in exchange for Israel halting its strikes and withdrawing troops from five locations in southern Lebanon, which have been occupied despite a ceasefire deal reached in November. The group's leader, Naim Qassem, in a televised address while the cabinet meeting was underway, said Hezbollah would not discuss "the issue of the weapons" while Israeli attacks continue, accusing Israel of breaching the terms of the ceasefire. Israel says its attacks are to prevent Hezbollah from regrouping and its weakened status, Hezbollah still enjoys significant support among Lebanon's Shia Muslim population, and discussions around its disarmament risk elevating tensions in the country, where many still remember the 1975-1990 civil war.
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Explainer: Can Lebanon disarm Hezbollah?
Aug 6 (Reuters) - Lebanon's cabinet has told the army to draw up a plan to establish a state monopoly on arms in a challenge to the Iran-backed Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah, which rejects calls to disarm. Israel pummelled Hezbollah last year in a war sparked by the conflict in Gaza, killing many of its top brass and 5,000 of its fighters before a November truce brokered by the United States. That deal committed Lebanon to restricting arms to six specific state security forces, and further stipulated that it should confiscate unauthorised weapons and prevent rearmament by non-state groups. In the months since, a new Lebanese government vowed to confine arms across the country to state control, Hezbollah's main arms route was cut when its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December and Israel attacked its sponsor Iran in June. The government is facing pressure from Washington and Hezbollah's domestic rivals to act swiftly amid fears that Israel could intensify air strikes on Lebanon. Despite November's ceasefire, Israel has continued to carry out strikes on what it says are Hezbollah arms depots and fighters, mostly in southern Lebanon. In June, U.S. envoy Thomas Barrack proposed a roadmap to Lebanese officials to fully disarm Hezbollah in exchange for Israel halting its strikes on Lebanon and withdrawing its troops from five points they still occupy in southern Lebanon. But Hezbollah and its main Shi'ite ally the Amal Movement, led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, say the sequencing should be reversed, with Israel withdrawing and halting strikes before any talks on Hezbollah's arms. Washington has grown impatient, demanding the Beirut government make the first move with a formal commitment to disarm Hezbollah. After Lebanon's 15-year civil war ended in 1990 Hezbollah, founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982, was the only group allowed to keep its weapons on the grounds that it was fighting Israel's occupation of the country's south. After Israel withdrew in 2000 the group did not give up its arms, arguing its ability to fight was still a critical element of national defence against future Israeli aggression. A ceasefire agreement after a war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006 was backed by a U.N. resolution demanding the disarmament of all militant groups - but Hezbollah again kept its weapons, accusing Israel of having violated other parts of the truce deal, which Israel denies. Hezbollah took over parts of Beirut in fighting in 2008, underscoring its dominance. The group exercised decisive sway over state affairs in the following years as its power grew. Hezbollah has called the government's decision to ask the army to draw up plans to disarm it a "grave sin" that "fully serves Israel's interest". Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem rejected each clause in Barrack's roadmap and when he spoke on Tuesday, dozens of motorcycles with men carrying Hezbollah flags drove around the group's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs - a show of its enduring strength. Hovering over any attempt to force Hezbollah to disarm is the spectre of previous bouts of civil unrest, including the 2008 fighting, triggered by the government's attempt to shut down the group's military telecoms network - an important facility for the group, but still less central than its arms. Lebanon's power-sharing system apportions public sector posts - including in parliament, the cabinet and other roles - to different religious sects according to quotas. The system is meant to ensure no sect is cut out of decision making, but critics say it leads to political paralysis. Shi'ite representation in both parliament and cabinet is dominated by Hezbollah and its political ally Amal. Two Shi'ite ministers were travelling during Tuesday's cabinet session, and the other two walked out in the final moments as the decision was being taken. Qassem has said any government decision would require a national consensus and may challenge the legitimacy of cabinet decisions taken without Shi'ites. The cabinet decision gave the army a deadline to submit a disarmament plan to the government by the end of August. Another session scheduled for Thursday will discuss Barrack's proposal. Some Lebanese parties may keep trying to find a workaround that avoids a confrontation between Hezbollah and the state while warding off heavier Israeli strikes.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
‘Apocalyptic' pictures of Gaza's devastation echo the destruction of the Hiroshima bomb 80 years on
As shocking new images of Gaza's flattened landscape smothered in ash and dust emerge, the world is pausing to remember another conflict that produced widespread devastation: the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. On 6 August 1945, 'Little Boy' was unleashed on the Japanese city by the United States, vaporizing tens of thousands of people in seconds and killing upwards of 140,000 over the months that followed. Japan surrendered soon after, ending World War II. On the 80th anniversary of the blast, human rights organisations and Japanese activists from Hiroshima alike have voiced their fears about Gaza and that the lessons of the past have still not been learned. 'When images of Gaza are placed alongside those of Hiroshima 80 years ago, the parallels are striking,' said Kristyan Benedict, the UK's crisis response manager for Amnesty International, told The Independent. 'Like Hiroshima, the devastation in Gaza is apocalyptic - entire families wiped out, children buried beneath rubble, and hospitals and schools reduced to dust.' Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa told The Independent that one of her colleagues had recently been in Rafah, an area of southern Gaza which has been largely razed to the ground by Israeli bombardment. 'She drove to get out of Gaza by Arafat in the south, and she said that Rafah looked like Hiroshima. I asked her if she had photos of Rafah, and she said they were not allowed to take any photos. But then we both Googled photos from Hiroshima, and she said: 'That's exactly how [Rafah] looks like today'.' Israel maintains that Hamas is responsible for both the war - that began after around 1,200 people were killed and around more 250 abducted by the terror group on 7 October 2023 - and the scale of the destruction in Gaza. When asked about the 'levelling' of Gaza in a recent Sky News interview, a spokesman for the Israeli government said: 'We regard any harm to civilians as a tragedy, while this terrorist organisation of Hamas, it is their strategy. They endanger innocent people and they use them as human shields. Israel, by contrast, makes every effort to prevent and minimise as much as possible harm to civilian population including evacuating civilians from combat areas.' Thousands of miles away in Hiroshima, fears about Gaza's future were shared at an event to mark the anniversary on Wednesday. "No Nuke, Stop War" and "Free Gaza! No more genocide" read some of the slogans held by hundreds of protestors who demonstrated outside the Peace Memorial Park, where prime minister Shigeru Ishiba attended an official ceremony. A Palestinian representative also joined the event for the first time. Around 55,000 people, including representatives from a record 120 countries and regions - including Russia and Belarus -were set to attend. The city held a minute of silence as a peace bell rang out at 8:15am, the same time a US B-29 dropped the bomb on the city. Hiroshima's mayor Kazumi Matsui warned against a growing acceptance of using nuclear weapons for national security during Russia's war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East, with the United States and Russia possessing most of the world's nuclear warheads. 'These developments flagrantly disregard the lessons the international community should have learned from the tragedies of history,' he said. 'They threaten to topple the peacebuilding frameworks so many have worked so hard to construct.' In June, Israel launched 'Operation Rising Lion' with attacks on Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile facilities in a bid to scupper any attempt by Tehran to develop a weapon of mass destruction. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly raised fears about what would happen if Iran had access to nuclear weapons and the devastation they would bring. Some Hiroshima survivors said on Wednesday they were disappointed by Donald Trump's recent remark justifying Washington's own attack on Iran in June by comparing it to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 'It's ridiculous," said Kosei Mito, a 79-year-old former high school teacher who was exposed to radiation while he was still in his mother's womb. 'I don't think we can get rid of nuclear weapons as long as it was justified by the assailant.' In the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV said Wednesday he was praying for those who suffered physical, psychological and social effects from the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, adding that the event remains 'a universal warning against the devastation caused by wars and, in particular, by nuclear weapons.'
