Shia ministers walk out as Lebanon’s Cabinet debates plan to disarm Hezbollah

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun heads a Cabinet meeting, at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, on Friday (Hussein Malla/AP)

Lebanon’s Cabinet met on Friday to discuss a plan drawn up by the Lebanese army to disarm the Hezbollah militant group and consolidate weapons in the hands of the state.

Upon the arrival of the army chief, General Rudolph Haikal, ministers from Hezbollah’s political bloc as well as the allied Shia Amal party and independent Shia minister Fadi Makki withdrew from the meeting room. The Hezbollah and Amal ministers then left the government palace.