The proposal was submitted during talks for national reconciliation in June 2010. The reconciliation dialogue has been hampered by Hizbullah's refusal to disarm or surrender its weapons to the Lebanese military.

[On June 20, at least one person was killed in an explosion in the Bekaa town of Zahle ahead of the visit by Hizbullah critic, Cardinal Nasrallah Butros Sfeir. The Lebanese daily An Nahar, quoting sources described as well-informed, reported that the explosion was that of a bomb being prepared for a car.]

Defense Minister Elias Murr was said to have rejected Makari's proposal. Neither Murr nor Hariri has formally responded to the proposal for a Hizbullah-Lebanese military merger.

The sources said the merger was proposed amid increasing cooperation between the Lebanese military and Hizbullah. They said the two forces coordinate in southern Lebanon, and the military has been firing anti-aircraft guns toward intruding Israeli warplanes.

Hizbullah was estimated to have more than 50,000 missiles and rockets, many of them in the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon. The Shi'ite militia has rejected any proposal to limit its military force.

"There should not be any discussion by members [of the reconciliation dialogue] on the issue of resistance weapons," parliamentarian Mohammed Raad, who represents Hizbullah, said.

Walid Jumblat, regarded as the leader of the Druze community, said Lebanon must use Hizbullah as part of national defense. Jumblat also urged that the Hariri government grant Palestinian refugees in Lebanon civil rights.

"With trust, honesty as well as safeguarding the resistance's [Hizbullah] weapons, we pave the way to preserve Lebanese sovereignty and Syria's flank," Jumblat said on June 19.

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