The United States said Thursday that Lebanese communities are increasingly expressing a preference for state institutions over Hezbollah’s weapons, reaffirming Washington’s support for Lebanon’s efforts to establish full state sovereignty.

In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said Lebanese people were making their preference clear “every day,” choosing Lebanon’s State institutions over Hezbollah’s weapons.

The embassy stressed that southern Lebanon "does not belong to regional actors or militias", and said the United States supports Lebanese communities in the south.

“The United States commends these communities,” the embassy said, adding that Washington supports the Lebanese government in its stated goal of imposing sovereignty across the country.

The embassy said the Lebanese army is responsible for enforcing that sovereignty and ensuring that decisions of war and peace remain exclusively in the hands of the Lebanese State.