Hizbullah cabinet member Mohammed Fneish, who resigned last November along with four other Shiite ministers just two days before the government was due to discuss a draft U.N. document on an international tribunal to try Hariri's suspected killers, has vowed that Hizbullah will not surrender its weapons. "We hold on to our weapons since their employment is not over yet," Fneish said in remarks published by the daily Al Mustaqbal on Sunday. "The resistance will continue to confront Israeli aggressions. It (resistance) is still a necessary force to protect Lebanon," stressed Fneish. He assured that neither Hizbullah nor its weapons are for bargaining, saying: "no one can argue its legitimacy."The senior Hezbollah politician Fneish resigned from his cabinet position in November, 2006, but not before stealing critical files from the Ministry of Energy, effectively crippling the organization. Upon leaving his post, Fneish dismissed further negotiations with the government "a return to the negotiating table would now be useless. It's a total waste of time."
Hizbullah was the only armed group which was not asked to surrender its weapons after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war because it was considered a "resistance group" then fighting Israel's occupation of Lebanese territory. U.N. Security Council resolutions have called for the disarming of all militias in Lebanon. Hizbullah was expected to disarm under U.N. Res. 1701 which brought an end to the 34-day Israel-Hizbullah war this summer.
All five Shiite ministers and one Opposition Christian in the 24-member cabinet of Prime Minister Fouad Saniora resigned in advance of a vote that approved the creation of an international tribunal to probe the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.