Hezbollah is demanding more funds from its Iranian patrons to speed up its rebuilding efforts, Israel's Kan News reported Monday, as the Lebanese government prepares to announce that the terror group has successfully been removed from the area south of the Litani River.
Israel has said that Hezbollah is rebuilding more quickly than the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) has been able to disarm it, and reported on Tuesday that it eliminated a Hezbollah operative who also served in the LAF, further casting doubt on the effectiveness of the disarmament effort.
The Israeli military has also noted that attempts to restore terror infrastructure continue south of the Litani, despite claims to the contrary by Hezbollah and the Lebanese government, and has carried out airstrikes targeting ceasefire violations in Yater, south of the Litani, as late as Sunday.
"As part of the strikes, the IDF eliminated a terrorist who was involved in attempts to rehabilitate Hezbollah military infrastructure in the area. These attempts constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon," the IDF stated.
According to Kan, Hezbollah has been negotiating with the Iranian regime in recent months, arguing that the $1 billion allocated for its funding this year will have to be doubled in order to efficiently rebuild the weapons arsenal destroyed by Israeli strikes over the past two years.
Despite the losses, Hezbollah operatives reportedly continued to receive significant salaries as the Iranian regime managed to smuggle around a billion dollars to Lebanon via routes in northern Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
On Saturday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced that the first phase of the government's plan to establish a state monopoly on weapons – the most important part of which is disarming Hezbollah – is "only days away from completion."
The first phase focused on disarming the group in the area south of the Litani while deploying the LAF in the region. Salam said the second phase will cover the area between the Litani and Awali rivers in southern Lebanon.
Sources close to Hezbollah told the Saudi Al-Arabiya channel that its forces have vacated the area south of the Litani and that LAF chief, General Rodolphe Haykal, will announce the completion of the first phase in early January.
However, the sources said that the continuation of the disarmament plan depends on approving a national security strategy.
On Monday, the pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper declared that Hezbollah doesn't intend not to hand over "a single bullet" north of the Litani and intends to notify relevant parties of this decision.
Samir Geagea, leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces Party and a vocal opponent of Hezbollah, stressed on Sunday that the disarmament plan is in force "across Lebanon, not just south of the Litani."
In a statement, Geagea told Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem that the text of the ceasefire deal states that disarmament should "start" south of the Litani before expanding to the entire Lebanese territory.
Hezbollah has rejected the government's plan to disarm it, explicitly threatening a new civil war in Lebanon to prevent this scenario.
Senior Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham visited Israel on Sunday, telling The Times of Israel that he wants the United States to give Hezbollah a deadline to disarm or face new Israeli attacks.
"I would like to fly with Israel. I would like the United States to participate in military operations, in the aerial side, against Hezbollah, if that's what it takes to knock them out," he added.
The IDF, meanwhile, has continued to strike Hezbollah terrorists wherever it identifies actions that violate the ceasefire agreement.
On Monday, a strike killed three Hezbollah operatives near the city of Sidon. According to the IDF, they were working to carry out terror attacks and to "reestablish Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the area of Sidon."
"From an initial review, it was found that one of the terrorists eliminated during the strike simultaneously served in the Lebanese [state military's] intelligence unit. During the strike, two additional terrorists were eliminated, including one who operated in Hezbollah's aerial defense array."
"The IDF strongly condemns the cooperation between the Lebanese military and the Hezbollah terrorist organization, and will continue to operate to eliminate any threat against civilians in the state of Israel."
David Daoud, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Freedom of Democracy, wrote on 𝕏 that the Lebanese government has "sought to cover its lack of meaningful disarmament action against Hezbollah" by various means.
This includes "media tours meant only to dispel Israeli claims, but which do not demonstrate real-time, effective, and meaningful action," as well as "cursory actions" while leaving "the core of its arsenal or its ability to regenerate" intact.
Republished with permission from All Israel News.