Joseph Aoun also said he's open to terrorist enlisting into the ranks of his country's national army.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Wednesday he intends to ensure all weapons are “under the state’s authority,” but added he wants to achieve this without foreign intervention and through dialogue with Hezbollah.
Aoun also told the London-based Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper that “Hezbollah members who meet military criteria can join the armed forces, as various [militias] did at the end of the [1975-90 Lebanese] Civil War.”
His comments reflect the vulnerability of Hezbollah, which had total autonomy in Lebanon before it initiated a war with Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, that cost it the lives of its top echelon and thousands of terrorists, as well as much of its hold on Lebanon’s south.