"This is our nation together. We live in dignity together, and we build its sovereignty together - or Lebanon will have no life if you stand on the other side and try to confront us and eliminate us," its leader Naim Qassem said in a televised speech.

Critics fear a U.N. Security Council resolution authored by France could leave a current system in place in southern Lebanon despite years of failures to curb Hezbollah.

No group in Lebanon is permitted to bear arms or rely on foreign backing, its president told a visiting senior Iranian official on Wednesday after the cabinet approved the goals of a U.S.-backed roadmap to disarm the Iran-aligned Hezbollah group.

The IDF said it struck on Friday evening an active Hezbollah military outpost, as well as underground infrastructure, in southern Lebanon's Beaufort Ridge. Israel sees Lebanese President Joseph Aoun as directly responsible for upholding the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah,

The visit by Ali Larijani, the head of Iran’s top security body, came as the Lebanese government moves to disarm Hezbollah, the militant group that has long been Tehran’s most powerful regional ally.

The Associated Press published a piece on Wednesday interviewing victims of Israel’s widespread pager attack against Hezbollah terrorists in September.

Hezbollah's Naim Qassem rejected Lebanon's decision to disarm the Iran-backed militant group, calling it a US-Israeli order and warning of a major crisis.View on euronews

Lebanon made a game-changing decision by tasking the Army with preparing a plan to enforce a state monopoly on weapons, poses a new challenge to Hezbollah.

The highly successful IDF invasion of southern Lebanon led by Gordin found that had Hezbollah decided to invade Israel on October 7 at the same time as Hamas, it was so stocked with weapons that it likely could have conquered large portions of the Galilee.