Lebanon's Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi has said Israel has the right to continue attacking Lebanon as long as Hezbollah remains armed.
Mr Raggi, a vocal supporter of disarming Hezbollah, told Sky News Arabia, “as long as the weapons are not totally monopolised by the state, Israel will unfortunately retain the right to continue its attacks in accordance with this agreement”.
The fragile ceasefire agreement formally signed by the Lebanese government in November 2024 ended more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah but it did not link Israel halting its attacks to the group's full disarmament. It was not clear which agreement the minister was referring to.
Under the truce, Hezbollah was required to disarm and dismantle its military infrastructure south of the Litani River. The Lebanese army said last week it had completed that process in co-ordination with the UN peacekeeping force Unifil. The agreement also stipulates that Israel should withdraw from five points of Lebanese territory it occupies and halt its daily strikes — obligations Israel has yet to fulfil.
Israel regularly claims, without providing evidence, that Hezbollah is rebuilding. Unifil, the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, says it has seen no evidence that Hezbollah is rebuilding south of the Litani.
Mr Raggi’s remarks are the first by a member of the current Lebanese government to suggest that the agreement gave Israel the “right” to carry out attacks across Lebanon as long as Hezbollah remains armed.
Israel's official account in Arabic on X posted the interview, claiming that the Lebanese government has “accepted the Israeli conditions”.
Israeli troops have been accused of breaching the ceasefire thousands of times − including through drones, the expansion of occupying bases, ground raids on southern Lebanon and attacks on Unifil forces and the Lebanese army.
Mr Raggi's comments were condemned from some parts. Influential Shiite cleric Sheikh Ahmad Qabalan said “the task of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to protect the interests of Lebanon, not to protect the interests of Israel”.
The Amal Movement, which like its Shiite ally Hezbollah has ministers in the government, said Mr Rajji should be held “accountable” and “should not pass unnoticed in the Council of Ministers”.
The UN says more than 100 Lebanese civilians have been killed in southern Lebanon since the ceasefire.
Under the terms of the ceasefire deal, Israel should inform the US-led mechanism monitoring committee of any breach and cannot act alone before informing the committee, unless there is an imminent risk to its security.
Lebanese security officials previously told The National that Israel regularly bypasses the committee to carry out attacks. Often, when the Lebanese military visits the strike location after it is attacked, there is no evidence of Hezbollah infrastructure, they said.
Mr Raggi also said Hezbollah's weapons had become “a burden on the Shiite community”.
“The state seeks to monopolise weapons for the good of the Lebanese people and to restore its sovereignty over its entire territory, because everything depends on it: aid, economic recovery, reconstruction and investments,” he told Sky News Arabia.
Hezbollah and Iran have repeatedly criticised the Lebanese government's move to disarm the group. Hezbollah has allowed the disarmament push to take place south of the Litani, but has pushed back on any action further north.
The Lebanese army will next month lay out its plans over how it seeks to disarm Hezbollah north of the Litani, but has warned that this will be far more sensitive because of Hezbollah's opposition.
In an interview with Russian state media outlet RT, senior Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qomati said pursuing a state monopoly on arms further north would be “the biggest crime committed by the state”.
“The path taken by the Lebanese government and state institutions will lead Lebanon to instability, chaos and perhaps even civil war,” Mr Qomati said, though he added that Hezbollah would not be dragged into a confrontation with Lebanon's army.
