Israeli strikes across Lebanon have killed at least seven people since Thursday, when the Lebanese cabinet voted to endorse a disputed US-drafted plan that aims for Hezbollah's disarmament.
An Israeli strike on the Saida-Sour motorway to south Lebanon on Friday killed journalist Mohammad Shehadeh, the director of the Hawana Lebanon news site. Hezbollah released a martyrdom poster following his death, acknowledging his membership in the group.
On Thursday - while Lebanon's cabinet was meeting to vote on the issue of Hezbollah's disarmament - at least six people were killed and 10 wounded in Israeli strikes in the Bekaa region, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters took to the streets of Beirut's southern suburbs in protest against the government's decision on Thursday night.
"Disarming will happen in your dreams," said Ali, a Hezbollah supporter who took part in the protests. "Disarmament is against Lebanese interest and its security and its sovereignty."
Similar demonstrations took place in other parts of the country where Hezbollah enjoys strong support, including Nabatieh in the south, Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon and Hermel in the north-east. Army troops were deployed to maintain order.
The cabinet agreed on disarming Hezbollah and endorsed the objectives of a US proposal that requires the Iran-backed group to hand over all its weapons during a stormy meeting on Thursday evening. But it made the endorsement without its four Shiite ministers, who walked out of the government meeting before the decision was taken, highlighting the risk of alienating the sect from which Hezbollah draws most of its support.
The cabinet earlier this week gave the Lebanese Armed Forces until the end of August to prepare a plan to disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year. The group rejected that decision and said it would treat it as if it did not exist.
“The government threw the ball into the Lebanese army’s court. The problem is not the decision, but the method of application of the plan by the Lebanese army,” said Gen Mounir Shehadeh, who until recently was the government's co-ordinator with the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (Unifil).
“The Lebanese army consists of the Lebanese people, and Hezbollah also comprises the people. People in the [Lebanese army] have relatives in Hezbollah and vice versa,” he told The National.
“So maybe we’ll not get to the point where there will be a face-off between the [army] and Hezbollah. The army is studying the decision in a very detailed way and considering the difficulties of the plan which the government has tasked it with.”
US envoy Tom Barrack said Lebanon's government had taken a "historic" decision by taking a step toward disarming Hezbollah, a move that Washington has pressured Lebanon to take since a US-brokered ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel came into effect in November.
Information Minister Paul Morcos said the cabinet approved only the goals of the US plan, and did not discuss it in full.
The US plan lists 11 “objectives” including “ensuring the sustainability” of the ceasefire with Israel announced in November and “the gradual end of the armed presence of all non-governmental entities, including Hezbollah, in all Lebanese territory”.
It also calls for the deployment of Lebanese troops in border areas and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the five places in the south they have occupied since last year's war with Hezbollah ended with November's ceasefire.
Lebanon says Israel's continued presence and its air strikes inside Lebanese territory are a violation of the truce.
