Lebanon mulls phased disarmament amid 'difficult' debate within Hezbollah
Lebanese officials are racing against time to reach 'acceptable formats' for a Lebanese paper responding to a U.S. proposal calling for an end to Israel's attacks and the withdrawal of its forces in return for Hezbollah's disarmament, a media report said.
'Hezbollah has partially opened the door to discussions over this topic, which had been a taboo in the past, without giving clear answers on whether or not it accepts the principle,' Lebanese sources informed on the ongoing deliberations told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.
'Hezbollah is engaged in a difficult internal debate over the issue, in parallel with another debate within a panel comprising representatives of President Joseph Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and PM Nawaf Salam, which is tasked with devising the Lebanese response paper,' the sources added.
Revealing that the panel's discussions are seeking 'acceptable formats that comply with the constitution,' the sources added that 'the Lebanese response to the proposal is focused on specifying the priorities and phases according to which the agreement will be implemented, seeing as Israel has not committed to the ceasefire decision until the moment, despite Hezbollah's compliance and its withdrawal from the South Litani area.'
The sources added that in its 'preliminary response,' Hezbollah has demanded 'real guarantees' in order to implement ant solution that might be reached.
Official Lebanese sources meanwhile revealed to Asharq al-Awsat that 'Lebanon is readying a technical response prepared by the Lebanese Army to explain the step-by-step mechanism and what can be achieved if Israel carries out positive steps, such as withdrawal, ending airstrikes and releasing the captives.'
Political leaders are meanwhile seeking 'guarantees that would pave the way for a gradual disarmament that would begin with heavy-caliber weapons and end with medium-caliber weapons,' the sources said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Nahar Net
42 minutes ago
- Nahar Net
US House gives final approval to Trump's big tax bill
by Naharnet Newsdesk 04 July 2025, 14:53 House Republicans propelled President Donald Trump's big multitrillion-dollar tax breaks and spending cuts bill to final passage Thursday in Congress, overcoming multiple setbacks to approve his signature second-term policy package before a Fourth of July deadline. The tight roll call, 218-214, came at a potentially high political cost, with two Republicans joining all Democrats opposed. GOP leaders worked overnight and the president himself leaned on a handful of skeptics to drop their opposition. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York delayed voting for more than eight hours by seizing control of the floor with a record-breaking speech against the bill. Trump celebrated his political victory in Iowa, where he attended the kickoff for a year of events marking the country's upcoming 250th anniversary. "I want to thank Republican congressmen and women, because what they did is incredible," he said. The president complained that Democrats voted against the bill because "they hate Trump — but I hate them too." Trump said he plans to sign the legislation on Friday at the White House. The outcome delivers a milestone for the president and for his party. It was a long-shot effort to compile a lengthy list of GOP priorities into what they called his "one big beautiful bill," at nearly 900 pages. With Democrats unified in opposition, the bill will become a defining measure of Trump's return to the White House, aided by Republican control of Congress. "You get tired of winning yet?" said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., invoking Trump as he called the vote. "With one big beautiful bill we are going to make this country stronger, safer and more prosperous than ever before," he said. Republicans celebrated with a rendition of the Village People's "Y.M.C.A.," a song the president often plays at his rallies, during a ceremony afterward. Tax breaks and safety net cuts At its core, the package's priority is $4.5 trillion in tax breaks enacted in 2017 during Trump's first term that would expire if Congress failed to act, along with new ones. This includes allowing workers to deduct tips and overtime pay, and a $6,000 deduction for most older adults earning less than $75,000 a year. There's also a hefty investment, some $350 billion, in national security and Trump's deportation agenda and to help develop the "Golden Dome" defensive system over the U.S. To help offset the lost tax revenue, the package includes $1.2 trillion in cutbacks to the Medicaid health care and food stamps, largely by imposing new work requirements, including for some parents and older people, and a major rollback of green energy tax credits. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the package will add $3.3 trillion to the deficit over the decade and 11.8 million more people will go without health coverage. "This was a generational opportunity to deliver the most comprehensive and consequential set of conservative reforms in modern history, and that's exactly what we're doing," said Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, the House Budget Committee chairman. Democrats united against the big 'ugly bill' Democrats unified against the bill as a tax giveaway to the rich paid for on the backs of the working class and most vulnerable in society, what they called "trickle down cruelty." Jeffries began the speech at 4:53 a.m. EDT and finished at 1:37 p.m. EDT, 8 hours, 44 minutes later, a record, as he argued against what he called Trump's "big ugly bill." "We're better than this," said Jeffries, who used a leader's prerogative for unlimited debate, and read letter after letter from Americans writing about their reliance of the health care programs. "I never thought that I'd be on the House floor saying that this is a crime scene," Jeffries said. "It's a crime scene, going after the health, and the safety, and the well-being of the American people." And as Democrats, he said, "We want no part of it." Tensions ran high. As fellow Democrats chanted Jeffries' name, a top Republican, Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, called his speech "a bunch of hogwash." Hauling the package through the Congress has been difficult from the start. Republicans have struggled mightily with the bill nearly every step of the way, quarreling in the House and Senate, and often succeeding only by the narrowest of margins: just one vote. The Senate passed the package days earlier with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie vote. The slim majority in the House left Republicans little room for defections. "It wasn't beautiful enough for me to vote for it," said Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. Also voting no was Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, who said he was concerned about cuts to Medicaid. Once Johnson gaveled the tally, Republicans cheered "USA!" and flashed Trump-style thumbs-up to the cameras. Political costs of saying no Despite their discomfort with various aspects of the sprawling package, in some ways it became too big to fail — in part because Republicans found it difficult to buck Trump. As Wednesday's stalled floor action dragged overnight, Trump railed against the delays. "What are the Republicans waiting for???" the president said in a midnight-hour post. Johnson relied heavily on White House Cabinet secretaries, lawyers and others to satisfy skeptical GOP holdouts. Moderate Republicans worried about the severity of cuts while conservatives pressed for steeper reductions. Lawmakers said they were being told the administration could provide executive actions, projects or other provisions in their districts back home. The alternative was clear. Republicans who staked out opposition to the bill, including Massie of Kentucky and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, were being warned by Trump's well-funded political operation. Tillis soon after announced he would not seek reelection. Rollback of past presidential agendas In many ways, the package is a repudiation of the agendas of the last two Democratic presidents, a chiseling away at the Medicaid expansion from Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, and a pullback of Joe Biden's climate change strategies in the Inflation Reduction Act. Democrats have described the bill in dire terms, warning that cuts to Medicaid, which some 80 million Americans rely on, would result in lives lost. Food stamps that help feed more than 40 million people would "rip food from the mouths of hungry children, hungry veterans and hungry seniors," Jeffries said. Republicans say the tax breaks will prevent a tax hike on households and grow the economy. They maintain they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse. The Tax Policy Center, which provides nonpartisan analysis of tax and budget policy, projected the bill would result next year in a $150 tax break for the lowest quintile of Americans, a $1,750 tax cut for the middle quintile and a $10,950 tax cut for the top quintile. That's compared with what they would face if the 2017 tax cuts expired.
Nahar Net
an hour ago
- Nahar Net
Syria says ready to work with US to return to 1974 disengagement deal with Israel
by Naharnet Newsdesk 04 July 2025, 14:45 Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani said on Friday that Damascus was willing to cooperate with Washington to reimplement the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel. In a statement following a phone call with his American counterpart Marco Rubio, Shaibani said he expressed Syria's "aspiration to cooperate with the United States to return to the 1974 disengagement agreement". Syria and Israel have technically been in a state of war since 1948.
Nahar Net
an hour ago
- Nahar Net
Barrack reportedly discussed Lebanon and Syria at the Elysee
by Naharnet Newsdesk 04 July 2025, 14:08 U.S. envoy Tom Barrack met Thursday night with officials at the French presidential palace to discuss the situations in Lebanon and Syria, a French diplomatic source said. 'Paris and Washington agreed to boost cooperation in the Lebanese and Syrian files and they have stressed their commitment to Lebanon's sovereignty and stability,' the source told Al-Arabiya's Al-Hadath channel. The source added that Barrack and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot discussed the ceasefire mechanism between Lebanon and Israel and the file of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
