Israeli defence minister urges Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah

Israeli defence minister urges Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah
Israeli Defence Minister looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza in Jerusalem, November 7, 2024.
Reuters

The Lebanese government must fulfill its commitment to disarm Hezbollah and remove it from southern Lebanon, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Sunday.

The Israeli military said that it had killed four people from Hezbollah in a statement on Sunday.

The U.S. brokered a truce in November 2024 between Lebanon and Israel after more than a year of conflict sparked by the war in Gaza, but Israeli strikes across the border have continued sporadically.

Katz also said maximum enforcement efforts would continue and intensify to protect Israeli residents in the north.

Since then, Lebanon has been under pressure from the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah's domestic rivals to disarm the group.

Lebanese army sources told Reuters they had blown up so many Hezbollah arms caches they had run out of explosives, but they have had to walk a careful tightrope to avoid inflaming tensions within the country.

Hezbollah has publicly committed to the ceasefire and has not opposed the seizures of unmanned weapons caches in the south and has not fired on Israel since the November truce.

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