Hezbollah fighters during a military demonstration in front of the media on Sunday, May 21, 2023, in Aaramta. (Credit: Jad Abou Jaoudeh)
A week ago, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said that Hezbollah fighters could be integrated into the army, but only on an individual basis and not as a collective unit.Speaking during an official visit to Qatar, in an interview with Qatari daily The New Arab, Aoun said the objective is to reassert the state’s monopoly over arms, while avoiding the creation of a force resembling Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also known as al-Hashed al-Sha'abi. The Iraqi paramilitary group — composed largely of Shiite factions — was integrated as a bloc into Iraq’s army, eventually becoming more powerful than the regular forces and wielding significant influence over the Iraqi government. Read more Faced with disarmament demands, Hezbollah plays its political card Aoun proposed that Hezbollah members, once disarmed, could join the...
A week ago, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said that Hezbollah fighters could be integrated into the army, but only on an individual basis and not as a collective unit.Speaking during an official visit to Qatar, in an interview with Qatari daily The New Arab, Aoun said the objective is to reassert the state’s monopoly over arms, while avoiding the creation of a force resembling Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also known as al-Hashed al-Sha'abi. The Iraqi paramilitary group — composed largely of Shiite factions — was integrated as a bloc into Iraq’s army, eventually becoming more powerful than the regular forces and wielding significant influence over the Iraqi government. Read more Faced with disarmament demands, Hezbollah plays its political card Aoun proposed that Hezbollah members, once disarmed, could...