Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Friday rejected warnings from Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem that disarming the group could plunge the country back into civil war, insisting that no Lebanese wanted to relive that conflict.
Salam’s response came after Hezbollah escalated its rhetoric against the government’s decision to enforce “the exclusivity of arms” under state authority.
Qassem, in his first major confrontation with authorities since becoming the group’s secretary-general, accused the government of bearing responsibility for any “sedition” that might follow.
“This is propaganda directed at Hezbollah’s supporters. Unfortunately, it is misleading,” Salam said in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat’s editor-in-chief Ghassan Charbel, due to be published in full on Sunday.
“This government is a national Lebanese government. It makes its decisions through the cabinet and is not subject to external dictates but to the demands of the Lebanese people. I believe the overwhelming majority of Lebanese support the government’s decision to implement a plan to restrict weapons to the state. I have no doubt about that.”
He added: “It is a shame to claim this government is acting under dictates. I do not want to enter into disputes, but I know who is truly subject to dictates, who listens to them, and who has considered himself an extension of external powers. No one in this government considers themselves an extension of any foreign side.”
Salam stressed that monopolizing arms was the duty of the state.
“There is no state without exclusive control of weapons. There cannot be two, three, four or five decision-making centers,” he said.
“Decisions of the state are taken in cabinet, not elsewhere. The national army is Lebanon’s army, not the army of other groups under any pretext. Does our army need strengthening? Of course. And this is what we are seeking. We want a stronger army.”
He rejected Hezbollah’s claim that surrendering its weapons would mean handing them to Israel.
“No one is asking Sheikh Naim to hand over his weapons to Israel. On the contrary, we refuse for anyone to hand their weapons to Israel,” Salam said.
“We want to protect the resistance’s weapons from Israeli strikes. What we ask is that weapons be under the state’s exclusive control, meaning they should be delivered to the Lebanese state and its national army. If anyone doubts the army’s patriotism, let him say so openly.”
Turning to Qassem’s warning of civil war, Salam said: “No Lebanese today – not just the wise among them, but all Lebanese, young and old, men and women, in the south or the north – wants to return to civil war. This direct or indirect threat of civil war is shameful. No Lebanese wants to go back to that.”
Salam noted that the principle of arms under state control was not new.
“Sheikh Naim speaks as though the government is introducing something unprecedented. The issue of exclusive weapons under state authority has been raised since the Taif Accord, which he himself recalled. At Taif, we all agreed to extend the state’s authority over all Lebanese territory.”
“We have delayed for years and years. Today, after the latest war and after the arrangements for the cessation of hostilities last November - which once again stressed that weapons should be restricted to the state and specified who may legally bear arms in Lebanon: the Lebanese army, the Internal Security Forces, General Security, State Security, the municipal police, and no one else - the matter is clearer than ever.”
He underlined that no political party had the right to hold arms.
“No party or political faction has the mandate to carry weapons in Lebanon,” he said.
“This was affirmed under the previous government of Najib Mikati, in which Hezbollah and Amal were directly represented. They agreed to that deal – to the November arrangements ending hostilities. Our government adopted the agreement and reaffirmed the Taif Accord, because it is the basic reference point. Even before UN resolutions 1701 and 1559, there was the Taif Accord, the mother of agreements, which ended the civil war that no one wishes to see return.”
The prime minister added: “That accord stipulates extending state authority over all Lebanese territory by its own forces. The principle of exclusive arms was reaffirmed in the president’s oath of office. We also underlined that the state alone has the authority to decide on war and peace. That was the basis on which we gained parliament’s confidence. This is a national pact, not open to alternative interpretations.”
Salam said the government had drawn up an executive plan to implement the monopoly of arms and dismissed claims it was acting under foreign pressure.
“No one should say this is what US envoy Tom Barrack or French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian want, or that it is the result of foreign dictates. This has always been a Lebanese demand, delayed for 10, 20, 30 years. The time has come,” he said.
“Lebanese today have the right to stability, to security and to safety. Without security, the country cannot stand on its feet. We will not attract investment or funds for reconstruction. We have committed to reconstruction, and I want to be able to gather the resources for it and for new investment. But this will not happen unless people feel safe. That requires exclusive control of weapons by the state.”
