Army organizes South Litani tour for foreign ambassadors, military attaches

Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal and a delegation of Arab and foreign ambassadors and military attachés arrived Monday at the Tyre barracks at the start of a tour organized by the Lebanese Army to brief them on the implementation of the disarmament plan in the South Litani sector and Israel’s attacks.

They were received by the commander of the South Litani sector, Brigadier General Nicolas Tabet.

The delegation then held a meeting during which they heard from Tabet about the army's operations. Afterwards, the delegation departed for the western sector of the Tyre district to inspect several army positions along the front line with Israel.

The army had recently organized a similar tour for local and foreign journalists.

It has deployed around 10,000 troops to the area south of the country's Litani River, where they have swept through the countryside looking for Hezbollah weapons, command centers and infrastructure belonging to the Iran-backed group.

"Over the past year, no evidence was presented to me of any weapons entering the area south of the Litani after the army's deployment," General Tabet, who is helping oversee the operation, told journalists during that tour.

The army told journalists it has seized around 230,000 items -- including weapons, ammunition, rocket launchers and missiles -- during search operations over the past year.

Under heavy U.S. pressure and fearing expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming Hezbollah, which emerged badly weakened from more than a year of hostilities with Israel.

According to a government-approved plan, Lebanon's army is working to dismantle Hezbollah military infrastructure south of the Litani River -- some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border -- by the end of the year, before tackling the rest of the country.

Hezbollah has largely resisted pressure from the government and outright refused to lay down its arms.

Meanwhile, Israel has kept up frequent strikes on Lebanon, mainly saying it has been targeting Hezbollah, which it accuses of rearming.

A Lebanese military spokesman requesting anonymity said that "part of the weapons and ammunition that are confiscated is placed in secure warehouses for later destruction at specific sites."

Weapons and ammunition that are still usable are confiscated by the military and then added to their own stockpiles for potential later use, the spokesman added.