WHY IS THERE A PUSH TO DISARM HEZBOLLAH NOW? Israel pummelled Hezbollah last year in a war sparked by the conflict in Gaza, killing many of its top brass and 5,000 of its fighters before a November truce brokered by the United States.

Lebanon's cabinet decision gave the army until the end of August to submit a disarmament plan to the government. Lebanon's cabinet has told the army to draw up a plan to establish a state monopoly on arms in a challenge to the Iran-backed Shi'ite Muslim terrorist group Hezbollah,

A plan submitted by U.S. presidential envoy Tom Barrack is the most detailed yet for disarming the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.