Lebanon's cabinet on Tuesday tasked the army with developing a plan to disarm Hezbollah by year end, an unprecedented step since civil war factions gave up their weapons decades ago.

The thorny decision follows heavy US pressure and comes as part of implementing a November ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and militant group Hezbollah including two months of all-out war.

The cabinet held a nearly six-hour cabinet session on Tuesday headed by President Joseph Aoun on disarming the group, which emerged badly weakened from the latest war, with its arsenal pummelled and its senior leadership decimated.

The Iran-backed group is the only faction that kept its weapons after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, doing so in the name of "resistance" against Israel, which occupied the country's south until 2000.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the government "tasked the Lebanese army with setting an implementation plan to restrict weapons" to the army and other state forces "before the end of this year".

The plan is to be presented to the cabinet by the end of August for discussion and approval, Salam told a press conference........

© Al Monitor