Hezbollah must be disarmed
Israel’s government, often bellicose and wrong, is reasonable and right on Hezbollah. The world must help Lebanon rid itself of these criminals.
The Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb this week — the first since the November ceasefire — marked an escalation, but not an irrational one. While the justification was the firing of two rockets from Lebanese territory — one of which fell short, the other intercepted — this was not about retaliation but about sending a strategic message: Lebanon must get serious about disarming the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. Its people deserve this.
It is often said that Israel and Hezbollah, which until last year was the largest non-state army in the world, are locked in a cycle of violence. But this framing is misleading. The deeper reality is that Hezbollah is not just a homegrown militant group defending Lebanese interests — it is an Iranian proxy that has held sway over Lebanon’s political and military landscape for decades. Having occupied Lebanon’s south, it has dragged the long-suffering country into wars it did not choose, wages conflict from within civilian areas, and undermines the legitimacy of the Lebanese state.
In Oct. 2023 Hezbollah decided to attack Israel in the wake of Hamas’s own brutal assault and massacre, and over the course of the following year, it launched near-daily attacks on northern Israel, including anti-tank missiles, drones, and rocket fire, often resulting in casualties and sparking a mass civilian evacuation. I was frankly amazed that Israel put up with it for almost a year, but that ended last summer. After intense fighting the ceasefire ended with Hezbollah much degraded and Lebanon agreeing to take control of its south, in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1701 from 2006.
Lebanon has perhaps done its best to comply, but has not exactly succeeded, even though the government, under new president Joseph Aoun, appears to be a good-faith player. What we’re seeing now is pressure by Israel to compel them to act decisively — and disarm what’s left of Hezbollah (which is still tens of thousands of militiamen and quite an arsenal of remaining rockets).
That is a tall order, no doubt, and pressuring a fragile government carries real risks. But there is also a rare and critical opportunity. Hezbollah is weaker than it has been in years — battered by Israel and its own overreach in the lost cause of propping up the former Assad regime Syria, constrained by Lebanon’s economic collapse, and isolated in an increasingly unstable region. Syria is no longer functioning as a highway for weapons from Iran. And Iran, its patron, is in any case distracted by internal unrest and overstretched across the region.
Lebanon’s new government inspires a measure of public hope and much international support. New Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has explicitly declared his support for disarming Hezbollah (but has done nothing). Now comes Israel’s action.
This confluence of circumstances is unique — and fleeting. If the international community genuinely wants to help Lebanon, it should not waste time issuing generic calls for de-escalation or condemning Israel’s tactics. Instead, it should assist Lebanon in reclaiming its sovereignty by helping it do the obviously needed thing. Again, in case anyone has somehow missed the point: That is to disarm Hezbollah.
Donald Trump, so often ridiculous, seems to get this — but the administration is yet to take action. Europe, which has a legitimate beef with Trump at present, still seems quite confused about the reality in Lebanon. Emanuel Macron, who seems to have global ambitions and enjoys some sway over Lebanon due to France’s colonial past there, should read some history and get with the program. Instead he’s pointlessly wagging his finger at Israel.
During today’s panel on Al Jazeera, I argued that now is the moment for such a global effort. Unfortunately, time ran out before I could respond to a central point made by my counterpart, Doha-based Professor Sultan Barakat. He claimed that UN Security Council Resolution 1701, from after the 2006 war, calls only for Hezbollah’s redeployment away from the border — not for its disarmament. That’s not exactly true. Resolution 1701 explicitly references Resolution 1559, which unambiguously calls for “the disbanding and disarmament” of all militias in Lebanon. Hezbollah was the primary target of that provision. The international community made a promise — to Lebanon and to its neighbors — that armed militias would not be allowed to dominate Lebanese soil. That promise has gone unfulfilled.
Barakat also warned that Israel’s aggressive posture risks weakening the very government it seeks to strengthen. That’s a valid concern. But it only reinforces the urgency of international involvement. Lebanon quite clearly cannot do this on its own. Its institutions are too fragile, its army too outgunned, its political consensus too fractured. What’s needed is a robust diplomatic and economic package, coupled with direct assistance and political pressure, that empowers the Lebanese state to finally assert control over its territory.
Because the truth is, Lebanon has not been a truly sovereign nation in over half a century. First came the PLO in the 1970s, operating with impunity there after it was kicked out of Jordan. Then Syrian occupation. Then, for a time, an Israeli presence in the south. And for the last 40 years, Hezbollah — backed by Tehran — has operated as a state within a state, making war and peace decisions on behalf of the Lebanese people without their consent.
This is not normal. And more importantly, it is not inevitable. Lebanon deserves to be free. Free from foreign proxies. Free from internal militias. Free to govern itself as a unified state, with one army, one authority, and one future. Israel is not what stands in the way of any of that.
Demanding the disarming Hezbollah is not an affront against Lebanon. It is the key to saving it. If the world wants to prevent another devastating war — one that neither the Lebanese nor the Israelis want, and that will only please the Iranian dictatorship and its vile servants — it should help Lebanon take back what has been denied for far too long: its full and genuine sovereignty.