Will Hezbollah accept to disarm and what will Lebanon get in return?

Ahead of a visit next week by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack, Lebanon is preparing a response to a U.S. paper concerning Hezbollah disarmament and Israel's withdrawal and halt of hostilities.

Pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper said Thursday that Hezbollah will not hand over its arms after several media reports claimed that the group is open to discuss its disarmament but wants guarantees that Israel will withdraw.

Hezbollah will reportedly inform Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday of its final response to the Lebanese amendments related to Barrack’s paper.

Al-Akhbar said it learned from informed sources that Israel wants Hezbollah to pull back north of the Awali river, which is much further north than the Litani river. Israel would in return withdraw from one of the five hills it is still occupying in south Lebanon.

Under the November truce deal, Hezbollah was to pull back its fighters north of the Litani, some 30 kilometers from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure to its south.

Israel was to withdraw all its forces from Lebanon, but it has kept troops in five areas that it deems "strategic".

Al-Akhbar's sources said that the next step would be handing over all heavy weapons in Beirut and its suburbs, and Mount Lebanon. According to the sources, Hezbollah, like other Lebanese parties, would only keep its light weapons in certain regions of south and east Lebanon.

"Hezbollah would not hand over its arms even gradually," the sources said. "Disarmament would be a suicide."