Lebanese parliamentarian Fouad Makhzoumi says that the situation in the country is the result of Hezbollah’s actions and has called for their immediate disarmament.

In a post on X, Makhzoumi says the public has “long called” for the capital, Beirut, to be a safe city with the Lebanese army deployed throughout.

“What is happening today is the direct result of Hezbollah’s insistence on retaining its weapons and its power to decide war and peace outside the framework of state legitimacy, while at the same time participating in government as though it were committed to the principles of the state,” he writes.

“The cabinet must act immediately to enforce state authority and ensure that all weapons are exclusively under the control of the Lebanese Army, starting with administrative Beirut and extending to Greater Beirut and all Lebanese territory.”

Makhzoumi adds that Hezbollah ministers cannot participate in a government “whose decisions their party refuses to respect and whose authority it refuses to recognise”.