Should Hezbollah Hand Over Its Weapons Now?

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00:00Lebanon approved a one government, one military plan in late September.

00:06According to senior US military sources, as of October,

00:12the Lebanese armed forces have removed from a variety of different affiliates

00:1710,000 rockets, 400 missiles and more than 205,000 unexploded ordinances.

00:24But by and large, Hezbollah has refused to hand over the majority of its stockpile,

00:31arguing it would play into Israel's hands.

00:34Omar, let's start with you.

00:36Should Hezbollah hand over its weapons?

00:40I think the question of whether Hezbollah should disarm is one that is entirely up to the Lebanese people.

00:46I know that there is a divide within Lebanon on the question.

00:49And so I would not externally feel entitled to weigh in on my personal opinion on that.

00:53That is really something up for them.

00:55But I can tell you that the regional dynamic right now,

00:57particularly with Israel's aggressive behavior,

00:59is really making the argument for disarmament more difficult.

01:02Israel is behaving like a malevolent actor throughout the region.

01:06You can see that they're committing genocide in Gaza.

01:08They're expanding settlements in the West Bank.

01:10And even in nearby Syria, where the pro-Hezbollah government of Assad has been toppled,

01:15and you have a new government coming in right now

01:17that is bending over backwards to come to decent terms with Israel,

01:21what Israel has responded with is an expansion of its occupation within Syria,

01:26carrying out regular bombings and killings and arrests,

01:28behaving in a completely rogue fashion.

01:30And what they've done so far in Lebanon since the ceasefire has been agreed to

01:33is launch thousands of strikes in Lebanon,

01:36killing at least 127 Lebanese civilians.

01:40So when you have an actor that is behaving with this kind of, you know, complete lawlessness,

01:45it is no surprise that the argument within Lebanon of people who are saying,

01:48actually, we need to be able to defend ourselves,

01:51becoming to gain a little bit more traction and make the argument for disarming

01:54much more difficult in the face of a regional bully that behaves like Israel does.