Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun called on Hezbollah and other political parties on Thursday to hand over their weapons to the army, a move the powerful militant group is resisting as Washington ramps up pressures for it to remove its arsenal.

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Thursday that he was determined to disarm Hezbollah, a step it has come under heavy US pressure to take, despite the group’s protests that doing so would serve Israeli goals.

Hezbollah's main ally, Lebanese speaker of parliament Nabih Berri, asked the U.S. to ensure that Israel halt its strikes as a first step, in order to fully implement the ceasefire agreed last year that ended months of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, according to four of the sources.