Weapons control deadline on August 31: Lebanon prepares final step in disarmament plan

Report by Bassam Abou Zeid, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi

Lebanon is ramping up political consultations ahead of an August 31 deadline for the army to submit its plan to limit all weapons to state control. 

Discussions are underway between the presidential palace in Baabda, the government headquarters in the Grand Serail, and U.S. officials to pave the way for the second phase of the disarmament process.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack has praised the first phase of the plan, and Lebanese sources expect him to visit Beirut before the deadline, though no date has been confirmed. 

According to the same sources, the Lebanese government has so far completed two of the three required steps before addressing pending issues with Israel. On Tuesday, the cabinet approved the decision to restrict arms to the state, and on Thursday, it endorsed the objectives of the U.S. proposal.

The final step, still pending, is for the cabinet to meet after August 31 to approve both the army's weapons control plan and the whole U.S. proposal. Once this is done, Lebanese officials say the responsibility will fall on Washington to pressure Israel to begin withdrawals, halt attacks, and release detainees.

This framework is understood to have been coordinated among Washington, Paris, and Riyadh, with France and Saudi Arabia contributing to the drafting of the U.S. document. 

French diplomatic sources described the Lebanese cabinet's decision to restrict arms to the state as historic and praised the government's preparation in handling the matter. They did not rule out a visit by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot to Beirut before September, ahead of an expected trip by Jean-Yves Le Drian.