Lebanon’s Christian parties make unified call for immediate disarmament of Hezbollah

BEIRUT / MEARAB — As US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack touched down in Lebanon on Monday to meet with senior Lebanese officials seeking a formal response from the country’s top three officials to a US proposal that includes the disarmament of Iran-backed Hezbollah, Lebanon’s Christian political parties voiced strikingly aligned demands: Hezbollah’s weapons must go, and now.

The Lebanese Forces, led by Dr. Samir Geagea, stated in a post on the social platform X that “some officials, clearly unenthusiastic about disarming the ‘Party,’ may use the situation in Syria as a pretext, as if these weapons have ever prevented Israeli incursions into Lebanon. In fact, it was precisely these weapons that prompted such incursions in the first place.”

موقف اليوم: الكلام عن أنّ سلاح “الحزب” ضرورة لمواجهة إسرائيل فارغ المضمون، والضمانة الوجوديّة الوحيدة هي في الدولة فقط.#موقف_اليوم #القوات_اللبنانية pic.twitter.com/wUwjXqTmn1

— Lebanese Forces (@LFPartyOfficial) July 21, 2025

The party expressed concern about the direction of Lebanon’s response to the US demands, suggesting early signs are “troubling.” According to the group, “there is insistence that disarmament can only happen once Israel withdraws from occupied points, halts its violations, and returns Lebanese detainees.” The party warned that such a position, “if true, directly contradicts both the American proposal and the ceasefire framework.”

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The Lebanese Forces also warned of efforts to “booby-trap the national response.” If the official reply insists on Israeli withdrawal as a precondition, regional uncertainty due to Syria, and a return to national dialogue, “a second round of war is at the gates,” the party warned.

Other Christian factions echoed similar positions. The Kataeb Party, led by MP Sami Gemayel, reaffirmed its long-standing position that only the Lebanese state should hold the exclusive authority to make decisions of war and peace. The party emphasized that given the region’s rapidly evolving dynamics, Hezbollah must “immediately and unequivocally agree to surrender its arms to the Lebanese Army, sever all foreign ties, and return fully to the state’s fold.”

Kataeb also urged Parliament to expedite the passage of long-delayed reform legislation, including bills on judicial independence, banking sector restructuring, financial transparency, and the resolution of the financial gap — laws seen as essential to unlocking international aid and stabilizing the crumbling Lebanese economy.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim Mrad, president of the Universal Syriac Union Party (USUP), maintained his hardline stance against Hezbollah. On numerous occasions, Mrad has accused the militia of “holding the country hostage to foreign agendas” and deepening Lebanon’s political and economic collapse.

In his most recent statement, Mrad condemned Hezbollah’s refusal to disarm, describing its arsenal as “scrap weapons” that have brought “death, poverty, and humiliation — not dignity or liberation.” He accused the party of turning Lebanon into “a bargaining chip in Tehran’s hand” and isolating it from its Arab neighbors and the wider international community.

As diplomatic pressure mounts and regional tensions intensify, Lebanon’s Christian political blocs appear to have found rare consensus: disarming Hezbollah is no longer a political preference, it is a national imperative.