Riachi says army's plan will satisfy everyone, even Hezbollah

MP Melhem Riachi of the Lebanese Forces has said that the Lebanese Army’s plan to monopolize arms across the country will “surprise everyone.”

“The army’s plan will surprise everyone with the solution it will represent and will be satisfactory to all Lebanese,” Riachi said in an interview on Al-Jadeed television.

“In my opinion, it will even be satisfactory to Hezbollah,” Riachi suggested.

“The army will perform its work in a wise, experienced and firm manner,” he added.

The Lebanese government has tasked the army with drawing up a plan to disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year.

Hezbollah has slammed the government's disarmament push as a "grave sin" and said it will treat the government’s resolution “as if it does not exist.”

Lebanon's cabinet has also approved the objectives of a U.S. proposal that includes a timetable for Hezbollah's disarmament, with Washington pressing Beirut to take action.

Before the latest war with Israel, Hezbollah was believed to be better armed than the Lebanese military.

It long maintained it had to keep its arsenal in order to defend Lebanon from attack, but critics accused it of using its weapons for political leverage.