A Lebanese soldier in a Humvee, on July 8, 2025, at a barracks in the Sour region of southern Lebanon. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L’Orient Today)
The United States Department of War announced the approval of aid worth $14.2 million for the Lebanese Army on Wednesday to bolster the military in its mission to "degrade Hezbollah," which it states is "in line with the [American] administration's priority to counter Iranian-backed terrorist groups in the region."
According to a Pentagon statement, the funds are intended to "build the capability and capacity of the Lebanese Armed Forces [LAF] to dismantle weapons caches and military infrastructure of non-state groups, including Hezbollah."
The statement specifies that the aid, which is part of a Presidential Drawdown Authority package, is meant to allow the army to acquire the capability to safely handle "shaped charges, demolition charges, detonating cords, electric and non-electric blasting caps, time blasting fuse igniters, time blasting fuse igniters with shock tubes, time blasting fuses, generators and transportation." It refers both to unexploded ordinances and weapons caches.
On Sept. 5, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a decree transforming the Department of Defense into the Department of War. This marks a return to its original designation, used from 1789 to 1947, when the military's various branches were unified.
On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Joe Rajji announced that the plan submitted by the Lebanese Army at Cabinet's request lays out a five-stage process for disarming the country's militias, most notably Hezbollah, which was once one of the most powerful non-state actors in the world, but was significantly weakened in its latest war with Israel.
Rajji said that the party's disarmament south of the Litani River — where the army has been at work for several months now — is set to be completed within three months as the first of the five stages. Parallel to that first stage, "security measures" are set to be implemented across the country, according to the plan. The army will "tighten and increase the number of checkpoints, prevent the movement and carrying of weapons... but without conducting raids, arresting individuals, or confiscating weapons from warehouses," Rajji said.
The army's plan was approved by the government last Friday. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem, in a speech given on Wednesday, reiterated his opposition to disarmament before Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory and guarantees that it will cease its attacks. Qassem called for the creation of a "national security strategy" in lieu of disarmament.
Under the November 2024 cease-fire that ended the open war between Israel and Hezbollah, the latter had agreed to withdraw its forces and dismantle all military infrastructure south of the Litani. Israel, for its part, was to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, but has maintained positions in five border areas and regularly attacks Lebanon, in the south, east and northeast, ostensibly targeting Hezbollah, but killing more than 300 people since the war supposedly ended.
