6 soldiers killed in blast while dismantling Hezbollah site in south Lebanon

Lebanon's army said a blast at a weapons depot near the Israeli border on Saturday killed six soldiers as a military source said troops were removing munitions from a Hezbollah facility.

An army statement gave a preliminary toll of six soldiers killed and others wounded "while an army unit was inspecting a weapons depot and dismantling its contents in Wadi Zibqin", in the Tyre district near the Israeli border.

Investigations were underway to determine the cause of the blast, it added.

A military source, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to brief the media, told AFP the blast took place "inside a Hezbollah military facility".

Troops were "removing munitions and unexploded ordnance left over from the recent war" between Israel and Hezbollah when the blast occurred, the source added.

President Joseph Aoun said he was informed by army commander Rodolphe Haykal of the "painful incident" that led to troop casualties.

In a statement by his office, Aoun - former army commander himself before his 9 January election - paid tribute to the fallen soldiers.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also paid tribute on X to the soldiers who were killed "while performing their national duty", calling the army the protector of Lebanon's "unity and its legitimate institutions".

"All of Lebanon, state and people, bow in reverence to their sacrifices and their precious blood," Salam wrote.

In April, Lebanon's military said three troops were killed in a munitions blast in the south, just days after a soldier was killed and three others wounded in another explosion as authorities said they had been dismantling mines in a tunnel.

Disarmament push

The blast came days after Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, said that troops had "discovered a vast network of fortified tunnels" in the same area.

The deaths come as Lebanon tackles the thorny issue of disarming Hezbollah.

Under the US-brokered November ceasefire which sought to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, including two months of full-blown war, all weapons in Lebanon should be restricted to state institutions.

A state monopoly on all arms is enshrined in the Lebanese constitution, but Hezbollah was the only group to keep its arsenal following the Lebanese 1975-1990 civil war as Israel was still occupying the south until 2000.

The cabinet this week took an unprecedented decision by tasking the army with developing a plan on how to restrict all weapons to government forces by year's end, which Hezbollah has completely rejected, despite agreeing to the November ceasefire deal. The army must present its plan by the end of August.

The government endorsed the introduction of a US proposal without discussing specific timelines, and called for the deployment of Lebanese troops in border areas.

It also called for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from five south Lebanon areas they have occupied since the recent war. Israel has refused to pullout of these sites it deems strategic before Hezbollah is fully disarmed, and the Israeli military has continued to violate the deal by carrying out near-daily strikes.

The Lebanese army has already been deploying in south Lebanon and dismantling Hezbollah's infrastructure there, but says Israel is stopping it from deploying in the five occupied border points.

Iranian interference

The group's backer Iran has refused the Lebanese government's decision.

A senior adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei said Saturday that Iran "is certainly opposed to the disarmament of Hezbollah... Iran has always supported the people and the resistance of Lebanon and continues to do so."

Iran's interference in the issue has been slammed by Lebanese officials, some of whom have called for the Iranian ambassador to Beirut to be summoned or expelled.

Aoun had previously warned a visiting Iranian delegation about interfering in Lebanon's affairs, saying the country was "tired" of external conflicts playing out on its territory.

Iran's network of allies and proxies in the region have faced a major setback over the past two years; Hezbollah in Lebanon has been heavily weakened, with Israel eliminating its senior command structure, killing thousands of its fighters and destroying swathes of Lebanese regions long considered to be Hezbollah strongholds.

In Syria, an Islamist-led rebellion in December ousted Bashar al-Assad's regime, thus cutting off Iran's main weapons supply route to Hezbollah, which is also under increasing financial scrutiny.

Flights from Iran to Lebanon have been banned since February, and Iran itself is reeling from a 12-day air war with Israel in June.

(Agencies, The New Arab)