US to provide Lebanon with explosives to ‘dismantle’ Hezbollah weapons caches

BEIRUT — The US Department of Defense announced it would provide the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) a security package worth $14.2 million to help in its new mission to disarm Hezbollah.

The Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) package of explosives and support equipment will build LAF’s capacity to “dismantle weapons caches and military infrastructure of non-state groups, including Hizballah,” the Pentagon said in a statement Wednesday.

The aid package includes shaped and demolition charges, detonating cords, electric and non-electric caps, fuse igniter generators and transportation.

“The PDA package will provide the LAF with capabilities to conduct patrols and safely remove and dispose of deadly unexploded ordnance (UXO) and Hizballah weapons caches, in support of the November 2024 Cessation of Hostilities between Lebanon and Israel,” the statement says.

The Pentagon said the equipment will aid in “empowering the LAF in degrading Hizballah in alignment with the Administration’s priority to counter Iranian-backed terrorist groups in the region.”

The support comes few days after the Lebanese cabinet endorsed on Aug. 5 the LAF’s plan to disarm all armed groups in the country, including Hezbollah and Palestinian militias, though it did not provide a timeline for the disarmament.

In an interview with a Lebanese newspaper in June, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the armed forces must have a monopoly over weapons. “Lebanon deserves to be a normal state — one governed by peace, stability, and the rule of law, where the state alone defends its citizens and makes national decisions,” he said.

This week Salam met with the speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah, and afterwards reportedly said, “There will be no backtracking on decisions. We will proceed with [the LAF plan’s] implementation.”

Hezbollah, however, previously rejected the idea of disarming, with the group’s leader Naim Qassem saying in late August that it would “not abandon the weapons that honor us, nor the weapons that protect us from our enemy.”

Analysts have told Breaking Defense that LAF’s new extended mission is likely to be difficult and complicated, especially if Hezbollah refuses to voluntarily lay down its weapons.

Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, Ali Bakir, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, told Breaking Defense that international support is crucial to LAF operations.

“Any plan for the Lebanese armed forces without international, regional and national support will most likely fail,” he said.

Tuesday’s announcement may be a start, but RANE Global Security analyst Freddy Khoueirys said it is “certainly not enough.”

“Lebanese Armed Forces need equipment and logistic support to carry out such a wide-scale operation on all the Lebanese territory,” Khoueiry told Breaking Defense, adding that he thought it would require the national army to enroll 10,000 additional troops to be deployed Southern Litani.