{"id":120619,"date":"2025-04-21T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=120619"},"modified":"2025-04-21T10:43:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T08:43:12","slug":"21-00-106","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=120619","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon Claims It Is Replacing Hezbollah in the South"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Lebanon Claims It Is Replacing Hezbollah in the South<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Yaakov Lappin \/ JNS.org<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam speaks at the presidential palace on the day he meets with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, in Baabda, Lebanon, Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS\/Mohamed Azakir<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Lebanon\u2019s leadership declared in recent days that the Lebanese Army has begun replacing Hezbollah forces in the country\u2019s southern region.<\/span><\/p>\n

In an April 15 interview with\u00a0The New Arab<\/em>, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun announced that 2025 would be the year of the Lebanese state\u2019s monopoly on arms.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aoun pledged that only the state would have weapons, referring to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF),\u00a0and stressed this goal would be achieved through direct dialogue with Hezbollah, while explicitly ruling out steps that could ignite conflict with Hezbollah.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI told the Americans that we want to remove Hezbollah\u2019s weapons, but we will not ignite a civil war in Lebanon,\u201d Aoun said, referencing a meeting with US Deputy Envoy Morgan Ortagus.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aoun added that Hezbollah members could potentially integrate individually into the LAF but rejected replicating the Iraqi model where Shi\u2019ite, Iranian-backed paramilitary groups formed independent units within the military. He asserted the LAF was conducting missions throughout the country \u201cwithout any obstruction from Hezbollah.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hezbollah member Mahmoud Qamat, however, responded by stating, \u201cNo one in the world will succeed in laying a hand on this weapon,\u201d according to Lebanese media.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hezbollah Member of Parliament Ali Fayyad stated the group was open to internal dialogue but warned against pressure on the LAF to disarm Hezbollah.<\/span><\/p>\n

Col. (res.) Dr. Hanan Shai, a research associate at the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy and a former investigator for the IDF\u2019s commission on the 2006 Second Lebanon War, told JNS on Wednesday that statements by Lebanese officials and the activities of the Lebanese army are \u201cunequivocally an achievement for Israel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But Shai warned that due \u201cthe weakness of the Lebanese army, the IDF cannot rely on it and must back it up with its own parallel defense\u2014mainly through detailed intelligence monitoring and targeted thwarting of any violation not only in Southern Lebanon but also [deep] within it, including at sea and air ports.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The fragility of the situation was highlighted when a LAF soldier was killed, and three others were wounded while attempting to neutralize suspected Hezbollah ordnance in the Tyre district of Southern Lebanon on April 14.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hezbollah\u2019s real intentions were also apparent when its supporters reportedly burned billboards celebrating Lebanon\u2019s \u201cnew era.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Most tellingly, the Israel Defense Forces is continuing to detect intelligence of illegal Hezbollah activity in Southern Lebanon, and acting on that intelligence. Overnight between April 15 and 16, the IDF conducted strikes against Hezbollah infrastructure in Southern Lebanon.<\/span><\/p>\n

In one strike near Aitaroun in Southern Lebanon, an IDF aircraft killed Ali Najib Bazzi, identified by the IDF as a squad commander in Hezbollah\u2019s Special Operations unit. Other recent IDF actions included strikes and artillery fire targeting a Hezbollah engineering vehicle near Ayta ash-Shab in Southern Lebanon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, reports emerged suggesting Hezbollah was actively adapting its methods for acquiring weapons. Reports indicated a shift towards sea-based smuggling routes utilizing Beirut Port.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Saudi\u00a0Al-Hadath\u00a0<\/em>news site reported on April 8 that Iran\u2019s Quds Force created an arms smuggling sea route that bypasses Syria.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amidst these reports, Aoun visited Beirut Port on April 11, calling for strict government cargo monitoring.<\/span><\/p>\n

Karmon expresses skepticism<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Senior research scholar Ely Karmon of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at Reichman University in Herzliya stated, \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt there\u2019s a change in Lebanon, first of all on the political level\u2014 the fact that President Joseph Aoun was elected\u2014supported by the West, the United States, Saudi Arabia.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, he said, \u201cHezbollah\u2019s political weight in parliament and in Lebanon in general has dropped significantly after the blow they received from the IDF.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, Karmon expressed deep skepticism about Aoun\u2019s stated path to disarming Hezbollah. Aoun\u2019s statement that he \u201cisn\u2019t interested in coming to military confrontation with Hezbollah,\u201d and that it needs to be a \u201cslow process,\u201d as well as his call for Hezbollah to enter Lebanese army units, should not be taken at face value, according to Karmon.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really believe it. First of all, because traditionally, in the Lebanese Army, most of the soldiers were Shi\u2019ites, for a simple demographic reason. And therefore, the integration of thousands of Hezbollah fighters or personnel into the army\u2014certainly at this stage in my opinion\u2014it\u2019s a danger that they\u2019ll take control of the army from within, after they\u2019ve already for years cooperated with the army.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He added, \u201cWe know, for example, that they received weapons from the Lebanese Army\u2014tanks and APCs\u2014when they operated in Syria in 2013, 2010, and they even presented them publicly in Qusayr [in Syria]. On the other hand, we also heard one article from a Hezbollah representative who\u2019s on their political committee, stating, \u2018Absolutely not, we will not give up the weapons!\u2019 It is clear there\u2019ll be opposition.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Karmon said he was skeptical about Lebanese government claims about taking over around 95 out of some 250 Hezbollah positions in Southern Lebanon. Karmon assessed that Hezbollah and its Iranian sponsors would be cautious but that they would continue to try \u201cas usual, to act and to bring in weapons, to prepare some infrastructure in case, for example, there is a crisis in the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear issue.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Lebanon Claims It Is Replacing Hezbollah in the South Yaakov Lappin \/ JNS.org Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam speaks at the presidential palace on the day he meets with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, in Baabda, Lebanon, Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS\/Mohamed Azakir Lebanon\u2019s leadership declared in recent days that the Lebanese Army has begun replacing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120619"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=120619"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120637,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120619\/revisions\/120637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=120619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=120619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=120619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}