Lebanon (MNN) — The government of Lebanon has taken another step toward law and order. On August 7, its cabinet approved the objectives of a US proposal that would see Hezbollah disarmed by the end of the year.
The Iran-backed militant group declared it will ignore this decision. But war with Israel has largely gutted its leadership and diminished its influence. The cabinet’s decision is yet another sign of how the times have changed in Lebanon.
“For 40 plus years, nobody could challenge Hezbollah, nobody could say anything,” said Nuna* with Triumphant Mercy Lebanon. “Now suddenly we have this change [where] the whole cabinet [is] deciding that we [want to] have no more weapons except the army weapons. So no more militias, no more armed groups.”
H.E. General Joseph Aoun, President of the Republic of Lebanon, right. (Photo © European Union, 2025, CC BY 4.0. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
The government’s increasingly clear stance has come with challenges. Nuna says that in the months since President Joseph Aoun took office “we have been stalling a little bit because it was difficult to say, ‘We don’t want the weapons [in Hezbollah’s possession] anymore.’”
At the same time, caution has been merited. With Hezbollah still holding some political sway, Nuna says the president was concerned about stirring up a civil war between Hezbollah supporters and those who want to see them disarmed. But last week, President Aoun responded publicly to Tehran’s criticism of the cabinet’s decision. He stated that Lebanon “does not accept anyone interfering in its internal affairs.”
“This is a sense that is really new. We have not heard this before,” said Nuna of the president’s declaration. “Does this mean that everything’s good? No, it means that we are expecting backlash.”
Indeed, protests have broken out in different regions of Lebanon following the government’s August 7 decision. Hezbollah and its supporters see it as a defender against Israel.
Nuna expects that Hezbollah will eventually have to lay down its arms but it might take a new round of military action to make that happen.For now, Lebanon’s political and economic struggles have left the Shia Muslim population desperate for true hope.
Political commentary on the streets of Gemmayze, East Beirut, Lebanon.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Brian Wertheim/Unsplash)
“For ministry opportunities, actually it is good [right now]. It is good in the sense that people are ready to receive, people are fed up with this regime,” Nuna said.
“Pray that now that there’s a whole people group that is open for the gospel, that we will seize the opportunity. It is an opportunity that we don’t want to miss.”
Pray also that God will give Lebanon a time to gain stability and a chance to normalize relationships with its neighbors.
Learn more about Triumphant Mercy Lebanon here.
*Pseudonym
Header photo: Hezbollah fighters train in southern Lebanon, May 2023. (Photo courtesy of Tasnim News Agency/Wikimedia Commons)
