Hezbollah supporters protest after Lebanese government's decision to disarm group
Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters took to the streets of Beirut's southern suburbs chanting anti-government slogans in protest at its decision.
Similar demonstrations took place in other parts of the country where Hezbollah enjoys strong support, including Nabatieh in the south, Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon and Hermel in the north-east. Army troops were deployed to maintain order.
The cabinet agreed on disarming Hezbollah and endorsed the objectives of a US proposal that requires the Iran-backed group to hand over all its weapons during a stormy meeting on Thursday evening.
The government's four Shiite ministers, out of the 23 cabinet members present, walked out before the decision was taken, highlighting the risk of alienating the sect from which Hezbollah draws most of its support.
Information Minister Paul Morcos said the cabinet approved only the goals of the US plan, and did not discuss it in full.
The US plan lists 11 'objectives' including 'ensuring the sustainability' of the ceasefire with Israel announced in November and 'the gradual end of the armed presence of all non-governmental entities, including Hezbollah, in all Lebanese territory'.
It also calls for the deployment of Lebanese troops in border areas and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the five places in the south they have occupied since last year's war with Hezbollah ended with November's ceasefire.
Lebanon says Israel's continued presence and its air strikes inside Lebanese territory are a violation of the truce.
On Friday morning, an Israeli strike in south Lebanon killed journalist Mohammad Shehadeh, a photographer and director of the Hawana Lebanon website. At least six people were killed and 10 injured in Israeli strikes in the Bekaa region on Thursday, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
The cabinet on Tuesday gave the Lebanese Armed Forces until the end of August to prepare a plan to disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year. The group rejected the decision and said it would treat it as if it did not exist.
'The government threw the ball into the Lebanese army's court. The problem is not the decision, but the method of application of the plan by the Lebanese army,' said Gen Mounir Shehadeh, who until recently was the government's co-ordinator with the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (Unifil).
'The Lebanese army consists of the Lebanese people, and Hezbollah is also comprises the people. People in the [Lebanese army] have relatives in Hezbollah and vice versa,' he told The National.
'So maybe we'll not get to the point where there will be a face-off between the [army] and Hezbollah. The army is studying the decision in a very detailed way and considering the difficulties of the plan which the government has tasked it with.'
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