The dialogue between the two sides is expected to focus on the issue of disarming “Hezbollah”, in addition to providing support to the Lebanese army and strengthening cooperation with the “United Nations Interim Force in Southern Lebanon (UNIFIL)”.
Before meeting with Lebanese officials, Wadephul stated that “Hezbollah must be disarmed in order to achieve lasting peace in Lebanon and the region,” and pointed out that the international community is closely following the progress in implementing the disarmament plan, which is supposed to be completed before the end of this year, in accordance with the agreement reached between Beirut and Tel Aviv through the mediation of the United Nations.
However, “Hezbollah” has not officially announced its approval of the proposed timeline. In contrast, Israel and its allies, led by the United States, believe that the pace of implementation of this process is very slow.
The issue of disarmament is considered one of the most sensitive issues in the Lebanese arena, because “Hezbollah” is considered in some circles the main force in confronting Israel, while the task of implementation has been assigned to the Lebanese army, which faces great challenges at the logistical and armament levels.
Security sources revealed that the Lebanese army detonated a number of weapons depots belonging to “Hezbollah” in southern areas, “to the point that the explosives it had ran out,” as part of working to implement the terms of the ceasefire agreement with Israel.
In the context of his visit, Wadephul inspected the work of the German soldiers participating in the “UNIFIL” mission, and visited the German frigate “Saxony-Anhalt” operating off the Lebanese coast, which is carrying out the task of monitoring the maritime domain and training the Lebanese naval forces.
The German minister stressed that the end of the “UNIFIL” mission by 2026 requires the international community to invest the remaining time in enabling the Lebanese army to assume security responsibility independently.
Wadephul is scheduled to leave Beirut this evening heading to Bahrain, to attend an official dinner at the invitation of the Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, and will deliver a speech at a regional security conference tomorrow, Saturday.
It is reported that the German minister began his regional tour last Wednesday from Jordan, then visited Syria yesterday in a visit that was not announced for security reasons.
