Lebanese FM says Hezbollah operations harm economy

• Lebanese FM backs Hezbollah disarmament as matter of national sovereignty
• Foreign minister says disarmament not aimed at appeasing 'Israel' or US
• Lebanon seeks to become a “normal country,” Rajji says

In some of the sharpest state criticism directed at the group to date, Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji declared that Hezbollah’s independent military activities are actively destroying Lebanon's economy and entangling the population in destructive, unwanted wars.

Speaking in an interview with the prominent French newspaper Le Figaro, Rajji did not hold back on the economic and social toll of the prolonged border conflict.

The Foreign Minister noted that the militant group's unilateral actions have thoroughly paralyzed Lebanon's vital tourism sector and crushed wider economic growth, forcing the state into geopolitical crises that do not serve Lebanese national interests.

Reclaiming sovereignty

The remarks come at a time of severe polarization within Lebanon regarding who holds the constitutional mandate over war, peace, and domestic defense.

Addressing international and domestic critics who view the push against the group as foreign-driven, Rajji firmly pushed back against the narrative that Lebanon is acting under Western directives.

"We are not calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah to please Israel or America," Rajji told Le Figaro. "We are doing it so we can finally live in a normal country."

Widening rift in Beirut

Rajji's comments underscore a deeper, more aggressive structural pivot by Lebanon's current leadership -including President Joseph Aoun- to systematically strip the Iran-backed group of its independent paramilitary status.

Over the past year, the Lebanese cabinet has increasingly moved to assert the sole authority of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) over national territory, arguing that parallel armies undermine the core essence of state sovereignty.

Hezbollah leaders have previously reacted with fierce rhetorical blowback against the political establishment's compliance pushes, framing Rajji’s diplomatic maneuvers as a concession to foreign pressure.

However, Rajji’s latest European media blitz signals that Beirut is doubling down on its domestic mandate, positioning the consolidation of arms under the formal state as an existential requirement for Lebanon's long-term survival rather than an international diplomatic bargaining chip.