Berri: Relationship with President Aoun is stronger than any decision

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's discontent following Tuesday’s Cabinet decision to assign the army the task of drafting a plan for disarming Hezbollah and other armed groups by year's end will not cause a rupture with President Joseph Aoun.

This is according to a statement released Wednesday evening by Berri’s office, "in response to information circulated by certain television channels," published by the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

"The relationship between President [of Parliament] Berri and President of the Republic Joseph Aoun is much stronger than a meeting or meetings [of Cabinet]," the brief statement reads.

Meanwhile, the newspaper Al Joumhouria cited "visitors to Ain al-Tineh [the seat of the presidency of Parliament]," who reported Berri’s "discontent," which he "does not express directly." Still, according to these sources, he affirmed that "the National Pact is more important than all opinions and all decisions." "We will not be among those who open the door to violations of the National Pact," he is also said to have declared.

The disarmament of Hezbollah has been a central topic of discussion since the party weakened after the latest conflict with Israel in 2024.

Both Joseph Aoun’s inaugural address in January 2025 and Nawaf Salam’s cabinet ministerial statement in February, which includes the Shiite duo, mention the state’s exclusive monopoly on arms.

Hezbollah has so far rejected the idea of disarmament, which is also a focus of U.S. pressure on the Lebanese government, and supports debate around a "national defense strategy."

A Cabinet meeting is scheduled for Thursday to discuss the American roadmap provided to the Lebanese authorities by U.S. envoy Joseph Barrack. It is still uncertain whether the ministers from the Shiite duo will attend.