Massad Boulos: The agreement between Israel and Lebanon provides for the disarmament of Hezbollah

In an interview given to Lebanese television al-Jadeed on Thursday, Lebanese-American businessman Massad Boulos, recently tipped as one of Washington’s next possible mediators on the Lebanese-Israeli issue, stressed that the agreement signed between Israel and Lebanon, following a war of nearly 14 months between Hezbollah and the Hebrew State, does not only provide for the application of the resolution 1701, which calls for the withdrawal of Hezbollah beyond the Litani River, but goes so far as to explicitly encompass UN Resolution 1559 (2004), which provides for the complete disarmament of militias in Lebanon, among others.

If the multimillionaire returns back to back the “festive” or on the contrary “reserved” declarations of Lebanese deputies and newspapers on the announcement of the ceasefire, describing them as “inappropriate”, it is because the “great majority of the Lebanese” would have no reason to worry according to him, thus affirming that “the agreement is very, very clear, and provides for the complete disarmament of armed groups (which escape) the control of the State. »

As a reminder

Massad Boulos, the Lebanese conscience of Donald Trump

Of the six-page agreement, Massad Boulos insists on the “first, which acts as a preamble” and constitutes “the framework of the entire agreement”: “I would like to ask people who still have doubts and reservations concerning the agreement, perhaps because of the speed with which it was signed (…), to read this first page precisely, they will see the main issue (…) that of weapons outside the state framework. » This preamble explicitly provides for “the establishment of a 1701++, if I dare say, with great precision”, referring to the expression “1701 plus” used in October to describe the possible draft resolution for put an end to the war in Lebanon and which would have gone beyond the framework of resolution 1701.

The full document of the agreement, obtained by our newspaper, states in its preamble that “UN Security Council Resolution 1701 also calls for the full implementation of previous UN resolutions, including “disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon.

An agreement “more precise than 1559”

In addition to the disarmament of the militias, the person close to Donald Trump insists on the fact that “the agreement goes even deeper, by designating the authorities authorized to carry weapons, of which there are six”, namely the Lebanese army , the Internal Security Forces, General Security, State Security, customs services and municipal police. He also praises “the details of this agreement (…) even more precise than previous agreements”, namely UN resolutions 1559 and 1680, which provided for the disarmament of the militias and the recognition of the sovereignty of the Lebanese state. throughout its territory.

This is also what this agreement would imply which, according to Massad Boulos, requires “the authority of the State over its entire territory and its borders”. As such, “we must not have the illusion that this agreement only concerns the south of the Litani” he repeats. He finally praises “the very clear means of implementing the agreement” supervised by France and the United States, both of whom he thanks, and expresses his optimism regarding the good conduct of its implementation, justified by the “positive reactions from Lebanese authorities”.

This interview was granted on the second day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which provides for a transitional period of 60 days, during which the Lebanese army must gradually deploy south of the Litani, becoming the only armed force in this area, while the Israeli army must withdraw, as part of the implementation of UN Resolution 1701, from the cross-border villages it occupies.