Aoun says disarming Hezbollah has requirements to fulfill
President Joseph Aoun has said that ever since he assumed his post, the state has “worked decisively toward one goal: one state, one army, and putting an end to all illegal armed groups operating outside the state's authority.”
“What we need now is an institution strong enough to achieve this, and the Lebanese Army is the institution that bears the weight of everything I have described tonight. The Lebanese Armed Forces are not just an army; they are the only truly national institution that enjoys the trust of all Lebanese citizens, and the only force that belongs not to any sect, party, or faction, but to Lebanon alone. They guard our land and our maritime borders,” Aoun said at a reception at the Lebanese Embassy in Washington.
He added: “Let me address directly the question I know is on everyone’s mind tonight: is disarming Hezbollah truly achievable? Yes, but only if we are honest about what it actually requires.”
“The armed group we are talking about is not a foreign mercenary force. It is composed of Lebanese citizens who, over forty years, have been molded by a massive and sustained investment -- ideological, social, and military -- into a non-state armed group operating outside the control of the government,” Aoun said.
He noted that this reality “does not make the objective any less urgent.”
“Rather, it makes the method all the more crucial. History offers a proven path, from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia to the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland, and it is no mystery: disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration,” the president said.
“It begins with removing the root cause that Hezbollah has always cited as its justification for existence: the Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory. It continues with the Lebanese Armed Forces assuming full and exclusive operational control, which requires immediate and unconditional support for our military forces, the sole legitimate defender of this country,” Aoun added.
“And it ends with reintegration: a program to re-establish reconstruction managed solely by the Lebanese state, coupled with genuine economic opportunities, will ensure that weapons are no longer the only option, but rather a choice between them and a functioning state that fulfills its promises,” the president went on to say.
He continued: "At every stage of this process, the Lebanese state must be the party that exercises its authority over its territory, controls its borders, and holds the sole monopoly on the decision of war and peace within its borders. This is the path I have chosen, and it is the path I came to Washington to ask you to take with us."