President Joseph Aoun (L) meets with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam at the Presidential Palace in Baabda prior to the Cabinet meeting on Nov. 6, 2025. (Credit: @LBpresidency/X)
BEIRUT — Thursday's Cabinet meeting kicked off on Thursday afternoon with two contentious topics — Hezbollah's disarmament and the diaspora voting law — set to occupy the day's agenda.
In September, Cabinet "welcomed" the Lebanese Army's plan — drawn up at Cabinet's request— to disarm Hezbollah in five stages, the first of which has a deadline of the end of the year. The Lebanese Army is set to present Cabinet with its second monthly progress report to this end.
Cabinet is also expected to discuss the diaspora voting mechanism established in the 2017 electoral law, but never implemented. The issue has resulted in significant division among MPs, with the opposing camp — those against the law and frustrated by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's refusal to place the topic for debate on meeting agendas — boycotting several meetings and forcing Parliament to shut down for lack of quorum.
Last week, Cabinet established a special ministerial committee with the task of drawing up a law amendment that combines the various parties' demands, in an attempt to "satisfy all needs." This draft amendment is set to be presented to Cabinet during Thursday's meeting.
Hours before Cabinet convened, Hezbollah published an open letter addressed to President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, as well as to its ally, Amal Movement leader Berri. The letter reiterated the party's opposition to its disarmament and expressed its rejection of any “political negotiations” with Israel.
Aoun has made several statements in recent days in support of opening channels for negotiation with Israel, with the belief that Lebanon "has no choice" but to start a dialogue, should it wish to avoid a military escalation. Pressure from the U.S., which is hoping to maintain the cease-fire it has brokered in the region, is mounting, via its envoys to Lebanon, both outgoing and current.
Berri recently added his own support to the movement toward negotiations with Israel, suggesting they take place through the cease-fire monitoring committee established by the November 2024 truce agreement. Berri had also suggested that "civilian or military" experts participate, via the committee, in the negotiations.
Sunni MP Ashraf Rifi described Hezbollah's letter as "unacceptable" in a statement released at midday by the state-run National News Agency (NNA). "Have mercy on your people, your families, and your homes," Rifi said. "A weapon that cannot protect its own leadership cannot protect its home or its region," he added, referring to the assassination by Israel of much of the party's top brass, including its iconic leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil told al-Akhbar newspaper that the group's weapons should not be surrendered without Lebanon recieving something in return from Israel, according to a report published Thursday.
According to NNA, Minister of Justice Adel Nassar noted on Wednesday evening that "any party that tries to drag the discussion into a partisan or sectarian confrontation is harming its own environment first, as well as the effort to build the state and the institutions that guarantee protection for it and for all Lebanese."
Minister of Economy Amer Bisat told the Saudi channel al-Hadath on Thursday that "restricting the decision of war and peace to the state’s authority will restore prosperity."
Hezbollah has conditioned its complete disarmament on Israel ending its near-daily attacks on the country and its occupation of Lebanese territory, while Israel claims that its attacks on Lebanon are in an attempt to thwart efforts by Hezbollah to re-arm. Israel has killed more than 340 people in Lebanon since the cease-fire began.
The Israeli army also regularly carries out incursions into Lebanese border villages where its demolishes homes and buildings as part of its intention to establish a buffer zone inside Lebanese territory. During an incursion into Blida last Friday, the Israeli army laid siege to a municipal building and shot dead an employee sleeping inside, prompting Aoun to order the army to respond to all future Israeli incursions.
