Marwan Abdallah, head of the Foreign Affairs Department at the Lebanese Kataeb Party, said the success of Lebanon’s emerging security and diplomatic track with Israel will ultimately depend on dismantling Hezbollah’s military infrastructure and restoring the Lebanese State’s exclusive authority over arms and security decisions.

Speaking to The Media Line, Abdallah said recent developments following President Joseph Aoun’s visit to Washington suggest that Lebanon has entered what he described as a new phase, but warned that optimism would be meaningless without concrete implementation.

“So, now we are waiting to see the implementation,” Abdallah said. “Before the meeting in the White House, the Lebanese army started taking control of two areas in South Lebanon, as per the framework agreement.”

The U.S.-brokered framework agreement envisions a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory in parallel with the deployment of the Lebanese army and the disarmament of armed groups, including Hezbollah.

Abdallah argued that the process would require continued external guarantees and a neutral monitoring mechanism.

“You need a third entity,” he said. “I think the U.S. military is the partner of the Lebanese Armed Forces and, of course, the partner of the Israelis, so they can play a role in monitoring and guaranteeing the agreement between both sides.”

For Abdallah, however, the issue extends far beyond Hezbollah’s missile arsenal. He said the group’s entire parallel structure outside state authority must be addressed.

“I have a problem with Hezbollah’s missiles, drones, military units, assassination units, small bombs, small weapons, medium weapons, everything that Hezbollah has — ideology, educational institutions, financial institutions,” he said.

He described those structures as “illegal and illegitimate ways of Hezbollah gaining more power and gaining more control over their population.”

Abdallah said Aoun’s reception at the White House reflected a significant change in Lebanon’s international standing.

“It’s not easy to be received this way by Trump,” he said. “Now Lebanon is back on the map. Lebanon is a country that’s respected as a sovereign nation, as a partner, not just as a state that is a source of trouble and problems.”

One of the most tangible outcomes of the Washington meeting was President Donald Trump’s announcement that he was directing his administration to allow U.S. airlines to operate direct flights to Lebanon, reversing a restriction that had been in place since 1985.

“But again, it’s not just about the flight itself,” Abdallah said. “It’s about what it represents: a renewed trust in Lebanon that these flights can be secure and protected.”

Abdallah linked Hezbollah’s future not only to developments inside Lebanon but also to mounting pressure on the regional logistical network that has historically connected Iran to its allies through Iraq and Syria.

In recent months, Syrian authorities have announced multiple seizures of weapons allegedly intended for Hezbollah. In one of the most significant cases, Damascus said it intercepted a shipment near the Iraqi border containing missiles, anti-tank weapons, and drones that preliminary investigations suggested were destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah denied the allegation.

Iraq later announced an investigation into how the shipment reached the Syrian border and formed a committee to coordinate with Syrian authorities.

The developments have fueled speculation that Hezbollah is increasingly being squeezed on two fronts simultaneously: by efforts to restrict its military infrastructure inside Lebanon and by attempts to disrupt the supply routes that could replenish that infrastructure across the region.

Abdallah viewed the developments in Syria and Iraq as part of a broader decline in Iranian regional influence.

“I think what the U.S. is managing to do is taking these countries out of the grip of the Iranians,” he said. “Today, not even Sanaa — maybe Tehran still controls the Houthis — but the other three Arab capitals, Baghdad, Beirut, and Damascus, are out of Iranian control. It’s a big achievement, not just for the U.S., but for the people of these countries.”

He also interpreted Trump’s references to a possible Syrian role against Hezbollah as relating primarily to the group’s logistical infrastructure rather than to Syrian military intervention inside Lebanon.

“I think what Trump means whenever he says that he wants the Syrians to interfere and disarm Hezbollah is not the Syrian army entering Lebanon,” Abdallah said. “He means Syria dismantling and destroying all the military infrastructure, the tunnels, and the supply routes that Hezbollah and Iran built inside Syria for decades.”

Uncertainty also surrounds the implementation of the so-called pilot zones in southern Lebanon, where the Lebanese army is expected to expand its presence as Israeli forces withdraw.

For the Lebanese military, extending state authority without triggering an internal confrontation with Hezbollah remains one of the most sensitive aspects of the process.

For Abdallah and the Kataeb Party, however, the objective is clear: the complete removal of Hezbollah’s independent military infrastructure.

“So it’s a new page for the country. It’s a new era,” he said. “However, all this optimism cannot be achieved if we don’t solve the biggest problem, which is Hezbollah’s weapons and Hezbollah’s infrastructure.”

He argued that Hezbollah’s disarmament could eventually open the door to an Israeli withdrawal and a fundamentally different relationship across the border.

“We all agree that when Hezbollah is disarmed, then there is no out-of-state threat for anyone in Lebanon or in Israel,” Abdallah said. “Then the Israelis will withdraw, and we are already discussing a new track of negotiations that will address the border between the two countries.”

Abdallah said that any future agreement would ultimately require support within Lebanon itself.

“I think it can have the foreign support that is needed,” he said, “but we also need the domestic support that is necessary for this agreement.”