4 days ago
Hezbollah must disarm now—Before it destroys the Shiite community again
Photo:
People view the destruction Sunday in Aita al-Shaab, a border village in south Lebanon, caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive. Gens of thousands of Shiite homes were destroyed in the last war between Hezbollah and Israel Bilal Hussein / AP
It is time for Lebanon's Shiite community to rise and say:
enough
!
By: Ali Hessein
In a pivotal Cabinet session held Tuesday at Baabda Palace, chaired by President Joseph Aoun, the Lebanese government approved a landmark decision tasking the Lebanese Army with drafting a comprehensive plan to restrict weapons exclusively to the Army and official security forces. The implementation plan is to be submitted for Cabinet approval by the 31st of this month, with further deliberation scheduled for the next session.
This long-overdue step reflects a growing consensus among Lebanese leaders that disarming non-state actors is essential to preserving Lebanon's sovereignty and preventing another catastrophic war. Yet, as expected, Hezbollah outright rejected the Cabinet's decision, dismissing it as irrelevant and declaring its intention to ignore it entirely.
But facts on the ground speak louder than Hezbollah's defiance.
In the last two wars with Israel—2006 and 2023/2024—Hezbollah gravely miscalculated. Rather than defending Lebanon, it exposed the country, and specifically the Shiite community, to immense devastation. In 2006, Israel occupied the northern part of Ghajar. In the more recent conflict, five strategic hills in southern Lebanon were lost. Entire neighborhoods in Shiite strongholds were flattened, tens of thousands of homes destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced. The pain and suffering borne by the Shiite community have been immeasurable.
Hezbollah's current Secretary General, Naim Qassem, who assumed leadership after the death of his predecessor in the last war, fled to Tehran in October—barely weeks after being appointed. From the safety of Iran, he continues to issue belligerent statements, far removed from the destruction and despair endured by his own community.
Meanwhile, Iran—the group's patron—continues to push Hezbollah toward further confrontation with Israel. Yet, in both recent wars, Iran did not lift a finger to help. Not a single missile was fired in Hezbollah's defense. Not a single Iranian soldier, engineer, or technician appeared to support Lebanon. That is betrayal of the highest order.
To make matters worse, no international donor is willing to invest in reconstruction efforts while Hezbollah remains armed and defiant. The message from the world is clear: as long as Hezbollah acts as a state within a state, Lebanon—and especially its Shiite areas—will remain isolated, impoverished, and vulnerable to future wars.
It is time for Lebanon's Shiite community to rise and say:
enough.
Hezbollah no longer serves the interests of the Shiites—it endangers them. Clinging to weapons after suffering repeated military and political setbacks is not resistance; it is recklessness. Hezbollah's so-called 'resistance' has become a liability that is bleeding the country dry.
If Hezbollah truly cares about the community it claims to represent, it must listen to the calls for change and disarm—before it drags Lebanon into another devastating war that it cannot win, and that Lebanon cannot survive.
