Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam stressed on Monday that his country is determined to carry out the second phase of imposing state monopoly over weapons that the government approved last year.
The army is expected to kick off in February the second phase of the plan, which covers areas north of the Litani River. The first phase, covering south of the river, is close to completion.
Salam received at the Grand Serail in Beirut on Monday ambassadors of the quintet committee overseeing the ceasefire with Israel. The quintet includes Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Waleed al-Bukhari, French Ambassador Herve Magro, Qatari Ambassador Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Egyptian Ambassador Alaa Moussa, and the United States' Ambassador Michel Issa.
After the talks, Salam said he expressed his gratitude to the envoys for their continued support for his reformist government and the army's disarmament plan.
"I stressed to them our firm determination to implement the second phase of the plan," he added.
Egyptian envoy Moussa said the meeting tackled several issues, including Lebanon's economic reforms and the disarmament plan.
The Lebanese state and army are on the right path, he remarked.
"We have positively assessed the first phase and the state's efforts have been very encouraging," he added.
Moreover, he stressed that Egypt is maintaining its efforts to de-escalate the tensions in Lebanon, especially in the South.
"Our sole goal is to create the circumstances that would ease the tensions," Moussa said.
"We are informing the Lebanese government of all of our efforts. We believe that if the situation is left without Egyptian or non-Egyptian efforts, then the chances of escalation will be greater," he continued.
"We have so far averted the situation from deteriorating," he added.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah has opposed efforts to kick off the second phase of the disarmament plan. It had already objected to its disarmament altogether.
Hezbollah MP Hussein Ezzedine said: "The government should work on getting the enemy to unconditionally withdraw from Lebanese territories it is occupying and release prisoners."
He said it should "avoid making concessions at the expense of the national interest, which will only encourage the enemy to continue to extort" Lebanon.
