Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia militant and political movement, says it will disregard a decision by Lebanon's government to task the army with establishing a state monopoly on arms. "We will treat this decision as if it does not exist," Hezbollah said in a statement on Wednesday, describing it as a "grave sin".

Hezbollah said on Wednesday the Lebanese government was committing a "grave sin" by tasking the army with establishing a state monopoly on arms, sharpening a national divide over calls for the Shi'ite Muslim group to disarm.

Earlier, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem threatened Israel directly for the first time in months in a televised speech on Tuesday. Lebanon's cabinet on Tuesday tasked the army with drawing up a plan to establish a state monopoly on arms by the end of the year,