الحكومة اللبنانية تقر خطة حصر السلاح.. واختبار ميثاقي يهدد مسارها

The Cabinet session that took place at the Baabda Palace today (Friday) turned into a pivotal moment in the government's path, with the withdrawal of the five Shiite ministers in rejection of the proposal and approval of the army's plan to restrict arms. This move shook the cohesion of the ministerial structure and put its fate at stake, revealing the depth of the division within it.

It was not just a withdrawal; the Minister of Industry (Shiite) Fadi Makki took a further step by placing his resignation at the disposal of President Joseph Aoun, stating: "If things are going to be pressuring for me, and if I cannot keep up with the government's decisions regarding the exclusivity of arms, I place my resignation at the disposal of the President of the Republic and the government." In the same vein, Minister Mohammad Haidar warned immediately after leaving the session about the seriousness of what had occurred, affirming that "any option taken in the absence of the Shiite community is unconstitutional, and it is not possible to talk about subsequent steps before the session ends."

Despite the dramatic scene accompanying the stance and the threat of constitutional issues from the Shiite ministers, the Cabinet continued its work and approved the army's plan in their absence. However, behind this scene looms a deeper dilemma: the failure of all communications to find a settlement, and the growing fear of a spark for street movements that could slip into security chaos.

Worse still, the crisis coincides with the arrival of U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus and the commander of the U.S. Central Command in Beirut in the coming hours, which weakens the Lebanese negotiating position and gives Israel an additional pretext to intensify its attacks, while the specter of a "new obstruction crisis" for crucial decisions looms at a political and security moment that cannot afford hesitation.

It is worth noting that the Cabinet welcomed the army's plan to restrict arms and its successive phases to ensure a decision to assert state authority and restrict arms to it, and discussions on the plan remained open, noting that during the session, no time frame was discussed for restricting arms since the timeframe was set by the Cabinet in the decision of August 5, which is until the end of this year.

In this context, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam stated during the session that the country cannot rise without restricting arms, and no investments will come without arms being in the hands of the state, emphasizing that the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement represents the operational mechanism for applying Resolution 1701.