Will Lebanon disarm Hezbollah?
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 4 September 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Hezbollah is under pressure to lay down its arms, as part of a US-backed plan. Lebanon’s government has asked the army to draft a proposal by the end of the year. Facing continued Israeli strikes and the aftermath of the assassination of much of its leadership, including Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah refuses to disarm, calling the effort a trap. With no trust and no guarantees, where will Lebanon go from here?
In this episode:
- Ali Harb (@Harbpeace), Al Jazeera journalist
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Sarí el-Khalili, Tamara Khandaker, and Tracie Hunte, with Manny Panaretos, Phillip Lanos, Melanie Marich, Farhan Rafid, Kisaa Zehra, and our guest host, Kevin Hirten. It was edited by Noor Wazwaz.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
Connect with us:
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Today, the push to disarm Hezbollah. |
| 0:14.0 | The Lebanese government has ordered the army to ensure all weapons are under the state's control by the end of this year, |
| 0:20.0 | and that is one of the conditions of a U.S. broker deal. |
| 0:24.4 | With Hezbollah saying no and the deadline approaching, is this a plan or a fantasy? |
| 0:32.5 | I'm Kevin Horton, and this is The Take. |
| 0:45.8 | I'm Ali Harb. I am an Al Jazeera reporter, based here in Washington, D.C. |
| 0:52.8 | Welcome back to The Take, Ali. So we are talking today about this new push to disarm all armed groups in Lebanon, and this includes Hezbollah. |
| 0:55.9 | And now for those who don't know, Hezbollah is a political party, but it's also an armed group |
| 1:00.0 | based in the south of the country, and it's been fighting a war against Israel for more than 40 years now. |
| 1:05.9 | So Hezbollah has been really part of the furniture in Lebanon for a generation. |
| 1:12.7 | But now the Lebanese government wants all weapons under state control by the end of the year. And to do so, it's tasked the army |
| 1:18.6 | to come up with a plan. So to start us off, what do we know about that plan so far? |
| 1:24.3 | Very little is the answer. We know that the cabinet will meet on Friday to discuss this said plan. |
| 1:34.3 | We know that Hezbollah has rejected the push to give up its weapons, to remove its weapons. |
| 1:41.3 | We know the army chief has hinted at some sensitive mission that the military |
| 1:46.1 | will be carrying out, but it remains very unclear where things will go forward. And the biggest |
| 1:53.9 | fear inside Lebanon, and for those who care about Lebanon outside Lebanon, is that the plan may include something like |
| 2:02.5 | a use of force or a military crackdown that could prove to be disastrous for the country, |
| 2:09.2 | something akin to a civil war, something akin to the army splitting up between Hezbollah |
| 2:15.4 | supporters within the military institution, defacting because |
| 2:19.8 | they don't want to turn their guns against their community. So this is the billion-dollar |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Al Jazeera, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Al Jazeera and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.