Amal says govt. violated ministerial statement, Thursday session a 'chance for correction'

The Amal Movement announced Wednesday that the Lebanese government “should have dedicated its efforts to consolidate the ceasefire and put an end to the Israeli killing machine” instead of taking its Tuesday decision to monopolize arms in the state’s hand before the year’s end.

The government “contradicted what was mentioned in the president’s inaugural speech and violated its Ministerial Statement, and accordingly tomorrow’s session represents a chance for correction and for restoring Lebanese solidarity,” the Movement added in a statement.

Amal’s minister Tamara al-Zein and Hezbollah minister Rakan Nassereddine had walked out of Tuesday’s session in protest at its decisions.

The government "tasked the Lebanese Army with setting an implementation plan to restrict weapons" to the army and other government forces "before the end of this year," with the plan to be presented to the cabinet by the end of this month, PM Nawaf Salam told a press conference after a nearly six-hour cabinet session headed by President Joseph Aoun.

Salam also announced that Cabinet would discuss the latest U.S. paper in its session on Thursday.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah emerged badly weakened from more than a year of hostilities with Israel, including two months of all-out war that saw its arsenal pummeled and a slew of senior commanders killed, among them leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Long the strongest political force in Lebanon -- with detractors accusing it of using the threat of its weaponry to impose its will on domestic decisions -- Hezbollah has also seen that influence diminish since the conflict.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem, in a televised address while the cabinet meeting was underway, said the Iran-backed group would not disarm while Israeli attacks continue.

"Any timetable presented for implementation under... Israeli aggression cannot be agreed to," he said.

Israel has kept up regular raids on Lebanon despite the November truce, mostly saying it is striking Hezbollah targets, and has threatened to keep doing so until the group has been disarmed.

Qassem also criticized a recent proposal presented by Barrack on disarming the group.

Hezbollah is the only faction that kept its weapons after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, doing so in the name of "resistance" against Israel, which occupied the country's south until 2000.

Last month, Barrack urged Lebanon to "act now" to impose a state weapons monopoly.