Naim Kassem, leader of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group, said the government should have instead "spread its authority and evicted Israel from Lebanon."

Critics fear a U.N. Security Council resolution authored by France could leave a current system in place in southern Lebanon despite years of failures to curb Hezbollah.

Hezbollah and Iran have emerged bruised from separate conflicts with Israel in November and June, respectively. Now, Beirut’s instruction for Hezbollah to disarm risks further undermining the relevance of the group at a critical time, analysts said.

The Lebanese government has asked the national army to prepare a plan to ensure only state institutions have weapons by the end of the year.

The Associated Press published a piece on Wednesday interviewing victims of Israel’s widespread pager attack against Hezbollah terrorists in September.

The visit by Ali Larijani, the head of Iran’s top security body, came as the Lebanese government moves to disarm Hezbollah, the militant group that has long been Tehran’s most powerful regional ally.

Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia, was involved in a deadly shooting at Iraq's Ministry of Agriculture on July 27. Despite the support for Iran-backed militias from many Shiite politicians, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al Sudani announced the results of an investigation that found the militia responsible for the incident and recommended consequences.

On Sept. 17, 2024, thousands of pagers distributed to the Hezbollah group exploded across Lebanon, remotely detonated by Israel and aimed at disrupting the Iran-backed group as it fired almost daily at Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Lebanon made a game-changing decision by tasking the Army with preparing a plan to enforce a state monopoly on weapons, poses a new challenge to Hezbollah.

The highly successful IDF invasion of southern Lebanon led by Gordin found that had Hezbollah decided to invade Israel on October 7 at the same time as Hamas, it was so stocked with weapons that it likely could have conquered large portions of the Galilee.