Khaberni - The French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Baro discusses in Beirut, which he arrives at on Friday within the framework of a Middle East tour, the issue of supporting the Lebanese army to enable it to perform its duties specially disarming Hezbollah, according to a diplomatic source informed AFP.
The visit of Baro to Beirut, where he will meet senior officials including the army commander Rudolf Heikal, comes weeks before a conference hosted by Paris on the fifth of the next month, dedicated to supporting the Lebanese armed forces, amid American pressures to accelerate the disarmament of the Tehran-backed party.
The diplomatic source informed about the content of the visit stated that Baro will discuss "the preparation for the conference supporting the Lebanese armed forces" organized by the Quintet Committee for Supporting Lebanon which includes France along with the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt.
The conference aims, according to the same source, to "provide the Lebanese army with the necessary means to ensure the sovereignty of the Lebanese state and the move towards restricting weapons to the hands of the Lebanese state," according to an official plan that stipulates "the disarmament of the armed groups", referring to Hezbollah.
The source added, "The goal is for the Lebanese army to be able to express its needs in order to perform the tasks assigned to it, and for the international community to be able to offer targeted yet crucial support, in addition to the political and symbolic support."
Despite the party's announcement rejecting to give up its weapons, the army has been working over the past months with modest and primitive capacities on dismantling installations and tunnels belonging to the party and confiscating weapons from them. It announced the completion of disarming the area extended from the southern border with Israel to the Litani River.
The army is required to soon present to the Cabinet the details of the second phase of the plan to complete the disarmament of the party and dismantle its military structures from South Lebanon.
The diplomatic source stated that "the regional context makes the issue of Hezbollah's disarmament extremely sensitive, amid escalating tensions between various parties and the weakening of the Iranian regime", expressing his belief that "there is an opportune chance to make progress in this matter."
Iran, which conducts a new round of talks with the United States in Oman on Friday, is a major supporter of Hezbollah.
Baro arrives in Beirut coming from Iraq, the second stop of a visit that started in Damascus, and he emphasized during it the priority of tackling the terrorist organization ISIS.
