‘The problem does not lie with the Resistance's arms,’ says Mufti Kabalan

"The problem is not with the weapons of the Resistance, but with what Lebanon needs to preserve its sovereignty and existence in the face of its only enemy, Israel," stated the Jaafarite Mufti, Sheikh Ahmad Kabalan, in a statement on Wednesday. Sheikh Kabalan is considered close to Hezbollah. He made these remarks at a time when the handing over of Hezbollah's weapons to the state is at the core of discussions among MPs, particularly during the government’s vote of confidence currently ongoing.

Without explicitly naming the Kataeb party or the Lebanese Forces, two parties that are staunchly hostile to Hezbollah, the Jaafarite Mufti declared that "the request from some to establish a timeline for handing over the Resistance’s weapons is a meaningless proposition, stemming from positions that do not understand the requirements of the country's sovereignty, the regional reality, nor the nature of Lebanon’s liberation and survival process," according to the National News Agency (NNA).

The day before, on Tuesday, Feb. 25, Samy Gemayel, the leader of the Kataeb, read a statement asserting that "if Hezbollah is truly determined to return to the state’s fold, it is obliged to quickly organize a process to hand over its weapons to the legitimate authorities and comply with the provisions of the Constitution and the laws, just like the rest of the Lebanese people." Georges Adwan, the number two of the Lebanese Forces, called for the cabinet to set up a timeline for the handover of arms and all military infrastructure to the army during his speech at the night session of the parliamentary session on Tuesday.

"It is imperative to have a military force capable of facing Israel," wrote Sheikh Ahmad Kabalan, deeming diplomatic means alone as useless to "face Israeli brutality." "Without the heroic battles fought on the front line [by Hezbollah], Beirut would be under Israeli occupation," he argued.

To legitimize the maintenance of Hezbollah's weapons, despite international and domestic pressure to implement the 2004 U.N. Resolution 1559, which calls for the disarmament of militias, the Jaafarite Mufti also mentioned "what’s happening on Mount Hermon and in the south of Syria," which he described as "irrefutable proof of the need for a sovereign national force capable of countering Israeli ambitions."

The Israeli army deployed on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon following Bashar al-Assad's downfall on Dec. 8, 2024, building at least seven military positions there. On Feb. 23, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded the "complete demilitarization of southern Syria, including the provinces of Quneitra, Daraa, and Sweida," as the Israeli army bombed this area on Tuesday night, killing at least two people according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).