‘The problem is not the Resistance's weapons,’ says Mufti Kabalan

The issue is not Hezbollah’s weapons but what Lebanon needs to preserve its sovereignty and existence against its only enemy, Israel, Jaafarite Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Kabalan, who is considered close to Hezbollah, said Wednesday in a statement.

He made the remarks as the question of Hezbollah handing over its weapons to the state remains central to political speeches, particularly during the ongoing parliamentary vote of confidence in the government.

Without explicitly naming the Kataeb Party or the Lebanese Forces, two parties strongly opposed to Hezbollah, Kabalan said, “The demand by some to establish a timetable for handing over the Resistance’s weapons is an empty proposition, stemming from positions that fail to understand the requirements of the country's sovereignty, the regional reality, or the nature of Lebanon's liberation and survival process,” according to the National News Agency.

A day earlier, on Tuesday, Feb. 25, Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel said in a statement, “If Hezbollah is truly determined to return to the embrace of the state, it has a duty to quickly set a process for handing over its weapons to legitimate authorities and comply with the Constitution and laws, just like the rest of the Lebanese people.”

Lebanese Forces Vice President Georges Adwan similarly called on the Cabinet to set a timetable for transferring all weapons and military infrastructure to the army during his speech at the evening session of Parliament on Tuesday.

“It is essential to have a military force capable of facing Israel,” Kabalan wrote, dismissing diplomacy as ineffective in countering “Israeli brutality.” He added, “Without the heroic battles fought on the front line (by Hezbollah), Beirut would be under Israeli occupation.”

To justify Hezbollah retaining its weapons—despite international and domestic pressure to implement U.N. Resolution 1559, which calls for the disarmament of militias—the Jaafarite mufti cited “what is happening at Mount Hermon and in southern Syria,” calling it “irrefutable proof of the necessity of a sovereign national force capable of countering Israeli ambitions.”

The Israeli army deployed on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon after the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad on Dec. 8, 2024, building at least seven military positions. On Feb. 23, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded the “total demilitarization of southern Syria, including the provinces of Quneitra, Daraa, and Sweida.” On Tuesday night, the Israeli army bombed the area, killing at least two people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.