Lebanon's cabinet on Friday approved an army plan on placing all weapons under state control, despite a dramatic walkout by Shia ministers from Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal Movement.
The session at Baabda Palace was chaired by President Joseph Aoun and attended by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and other ministers. The army chief, Rudolf Haykal, entered the meeting to present the disarmament plan, at which point five Shiite ministers, from Hezbollah, Amal, and the independent Fadi Makki, walked out.
Makki later told reporters he respected the army but could not "bear the weight of such a decision" without the participation of a key political component. He said he was even ready to place his resignation at the disposal of the president and prime minister "if it serves the national interest".
Labour Minister Mohammed Haidar said the walkout was a political statement rather than a rejection of the army, insisting that "any option taken in the absence of the Shia community is unconstitutional".
Environment Minister Tamara Zain clarified that the ministers had greeted the army chief before expressing their position and leaving.
Despite their walkout, the cabinet went ahead and endorsed the army's plan. The initiative was part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal agreed in November, which aimed to end more than a year of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.
That ceasefire has been repeatedly violated, with Israel accused of carrying out more than 500 strikes since it came into force.
In the past two days alone, intensified Israeli air raids on southern Lebanon killed at least five people, according to the health ministry and the National News Agency.
Hezbollah and Amal ministers have now walked out of cabinet discussions on disarmament three times. The group has called the push to strip it of its arsenal "unpatriotic" and accused the government of "handing the country to Israel".
Lebanon's delicate sectarian power-sharing system makes consensus key. Posters in Beirut ahead of Friday’s session featured Prime Minister Salam and President Aoun with the slogan: "We are all with you. One army, one arsenal, one state. A new era for Lebanon."
Prime Minister Salam last month declared: "The path of monopolising arms, extending state authority and monopolising decisions on war and peace is a path that has begun and there is no turning back."
Hezbollah, the only group to retain its weapons after the 1975–1990 civil war, has long justified its arsenal as necessary to resist Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, which ended in 2000. Israeli forces, however, continue to hold five hilltops in the south.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem warned this week that if disarmament is "imposed", the group would resist, though he said protests had been postponed to leave room for discussion.
The balance of power in Lebanon has shifted in recent years, with Hezbollah weakened by its costly war with Israel and the downfall of ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Some Lebanese now say its role has "ended", while others insist its weapons are untouchable.