'Serious and firm efforts underway' to ensure monopoly on weapons: Hajjar

Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar affirmed on Sunday that “serious and firm efforts are underway" to extend the state's monopoly on weapons over Lebanese territory, while authorities have been criticized internationally for stalling the disarmament of Hezbollah and other militias.

"Security and stability in Lebanon are at the top of the Lebanese state's priorities,” Hajjar declared during a meeting with the Lebanese community in Bahrain. He noted that “serious and firm efforts are underway to extend the state's authority over all Lebanese territories, relying solely on its own national forces," the state-run National News Agency reported Sunday.

Hajjar is in Bahrain with an official delegation for the "Manama Dialogue Forum."

The United States, via its emissaries Tom Barrack and Morgan Ortagus, has exhorted the Lebanese authorities to accelerate the disarmament of Hezbollah and start negotiating with Israel.

On Saturday, Barrack urged Lebanese leaders to negotiate with Israel over their shared border and to ensure that the state alone holds the monopoly on weapons, warning that Lebanon “has no more time.”

Hajjar also assured that his ministry is "working to ensure the participation of expatriates" in the May 2026 legislative elections.

The participation of the diaspora in the upcoming elections has been a divisive issue in Lebanon for several months as 67 MPs, a clear majority of the 128-member chamber, have requested that the current electoral law be amended so that Lebanese abroad can vote from their country of residence for all metropolitan MPs, rather than just for six seats reserved for them, as stipulated in Article 112 of the current law.

As some fear a postponement of the elections, or a vote with the diaspora, Hajjar and Foreign Minister Joe Rajji have been tasked by the cabinet to draft a report on the question, to be presented in the next session.