Bassil says Hezbollah lost deterrence power, arms legitimacy

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil said he sees no problem in having direct negotiations with Israel after Hezbollah "lost its power to defend Lebanon."

Bassil said Hezbollah committed a strategic mistake when it started firing at Israel in support of Gaza and Hamas following the Oct.7 attack and that the group later lost the legitimacy of its weapons when it gave twice a vote of confidence to the government of Nawaf Salam, which vowed to disarm the group.

The government failed to reconstruct war-hit regions, to carry out reforms and to disarm Hezbollah, Bassil told al-Jadeed Sunday, suggesting that the solution would be to keep Lebanon out of the regional conflicts with international guarantees that it wouldn't be attacked or occupied. "Hezbollah would then have no justification to keep its arms," he said.