DEVELOPING HISTORYHISTORY IN DEVELOPMENT,
Nawaf Salam says all Hezbollah activities are “illegal” after the group launched attacks against Israel from Lebanon.
Published March 2, 2026
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam issued a statement saying Hezbollah’s military and security activities are prohibited, hours after Israel responded to rocket and drone attacks by the Iran-linked group by launching airstrikes in southern Beirut.
“We announced a ban on Hezbollah’s military activities and restricted its role to the political sphere,” Nawaf said.
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“We declare our rejection of any military or security operation launched from Lebanese territory outside the framework of legitimate institutions.”
The prime minister said all Hezbollah activities were “illegal” and called on security forces to “prevent any attack coming from Lebanese territory.”
“We declare our commitment to the cessation of hostilities and the resumption of negotiations,” he added.
Iran’s allied Lebanese armed group said early Monday that its attack was in retaliation for the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “in defense of Lebanon and its people” and “in response to repeated Israeli aggression.”
Israel responded by bombing Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, killing more than 30 people and wounding 149, according to state news agency NNA.
Hezbollah, which operates independently of the Lebanese government, has been weakened by the 2024 war, in which Israel killed most of the group’s military and political leaders.
Under mounting pressure from the United States and Israel, Lebanese authorities agreed to disarm Hezbollah, which dismissed the plan as an American-Israeli ploy and refused to hand over weapons north of the Litani River. The group maintained that a ceasefire signed in November 2024 applied disarmament exclusively to the south of the waterway.
Last month, Lebanon’s government said its military would need at least four months to complete the second phase of its plan to dismantle Hezbollah’s arsenals in the south of the country. The second phase concerns the area between the Litani and Awali rivers, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
It announced in January that it had completed the first phase of its five-stage plan, covering the area between the Litani River and the country’s southern border with Israel.
The military escalation between Israel and Hezbollah could deepen the crisis in Lebanon, which has been suffering from economic and political problems for years.
Earlier on Monday, Salam said Hezbollah’s attack was “an irresponsible and suspicious act that endangers Lebanon’s security and provides Israel with pretexts to continue its aggression.”
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut, said a humanitarian crisis was brewing as hundreds of thousands of people fled southern Lebanon and the capital’s southern suburbs.
“This is part of Israel’s strategy to punish Hezbollah supporters and those who live in areas under Hezbollah influence,” he said.
Khodr added that Israel’s goal was to “turn them against the group and blame it for escalating what had been a simmering conflict.”
