Over the course of the weeklong demonstrations in Lebanon that started on Oct. 17, demonstrators have spurred the Cabinet to pass critical reforms, and are continuing to demand the total resignation of all politicians in the Lebanese government, chanting, “All means all.” Some more concrete requests have been voiced, including anti-corruption laws and lifting the secrecy of bank accounts.

Throughout these protests, the role of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) has been a multi-faceted one. Although Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has called on the army’s leadership to protect demonstrators’ right to protest, he and other leaders including President Michel Aoun on Oct. 24 and Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on Oct. 25 have stressed the need to open roads that continued to be blocked by protesters on Oct. 26. Efforts to open roads by the army have been marred by reported violence in several areas in Lebanon throughout the week, and on Oct. 26, shots were fired into the air by the Lebanese army as it tried to open the road to traffic in Beddawi near the northern city of Tripoli.

The army, which is one of the few institutions in Lebanon that still enjoys broad public support, has also played a key role in shielding protest gatherings from violence at the hands of Hezbollah supporters and their allies in the Amal bloc, both in Beirut on Oct. 21 and in south Lebanon on Oct. 23. The military was also successful in calming the tense situation between claimed Lebanese Forces members and protesters.

Supporters of the Lebanese Forces had allegedly been arriving to join demonstrators in Jal el-Dib as protests have taken place there, but former Lebanese Forces Labor Minister Camille Abousleiman denied allegations that the party’s supporters were stirring up trouble.