Kataeb Party political bureau member Joelle Bou Abboud said that Lebanon’s ongoing negotiations with Israel must produce concrete results on two key issues: the disarmament of Hezbollah and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory.

In an interview with LBCI, Bou Abboud said Hezbollah is uncomfortable with the current format of the talks because it is not directly participating in them, while Iran is simultaneously engaged in negotiations with the United States.

She said the broader goal remains to stop what she described as the destruction in Lebanon, which she linked to Hezbollah’s involvement in regional conflicts.

“Negotiations between the United States and Iran will have an impact on every country, including Lebanon,” she said. “But the key difference this time is that Lebanon is negotiating on its own behalf. We hope this is the last time, and that Lebanon is never again turned into a battleground for other people’s wars.”

Bou Abboud said Hezbollah’s entry into the war was in fact part of Iranian policy, pointing to previous remarks by the late Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, who acknowledged the group’s financial and military dependence on Tehran.

“Nasrallah himself said their funding, food, and support come from Iran,” she said. “They follow the doctrine of Wilayat al-Faqih and are raising a new generation through that ideological framework in their schools.”

Responding to threats by Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem that the group could bring down the government, Bou Abboud said the party has the right to leave the cabinet and move into opposition, but not to collapse the government.

“If Hezbollah disagrees with the government, it can step out of the cabinet and become an opposition force,” she said. “But it does not have the right to call for its collapse. The government is not going to fall; it has strong international, Arab, and Gulf backing.”

She added that Hezbollah continues to reject disarmament and has repeatedly warned against any attempt to take away its weapons.

“Hezbollah says, ‘Whoever takes our weapons takes our life,’” she said. “It operates as a parallel state alongside the Lebanese State. Disarmament is not an easy task.”

Bou Abboud said President Joseph Aoun is waiting for the outcome of negotiations in order to avoid escalation, but stressed that the Lebanese state will ultimately have to address the issue with Hezbollah, with support from domestic, Arab, and international partners.

“There is no turning back from this path,” she said. “The region is changing, and largely for the better.”

Comparing current diplomatic efforts with the May 17 Agreement of 1983, Bou Abboud said the circumstances are fundamentally different.

“At that time, Lebanon was deeply divided among multiple militias,” she said. “Today, there is effectively one dominant armed group, while all communities support negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement.”

She noted that international backing was absent in the earlier period, while then-President Amine Gemayel personally led efforts to secure the agreement, which she described as a key step toward Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

Turning to a proposed general amnesty law, Bou Abboud said the issue re-emerges in every political phase in Lebanon and reflects long-standing concerns over judicial injustice.

“As the Kataeb Party, we believe many people have been held in prison for years without trial, and that is a serious injustice,” she said.

She criticized what she described as selective exemptions and sentence reductions, saying the process has turned into a “sectarian bargaining process,” and argued that Lebanese detainees held in Israel should also be included in any amnesty framework.