US offers to back Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah, end impasse
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Mr Tom Barrack, the US Ambassador to Turkey and an envoy for Lebanon, said the Lebanese government was struggling to seize Hezbollah's weapons.
PHOTO: EPA
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BEIRUT – The US says it is ready to back Lebanon’s army to help implement a plan to disarm militant groups, which was announced in August but has yet to make tangible progress amid a spat with the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.
US officials, during a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, expressed readiness to help the war-battered country stabilise security in the south, where Israel has been regularly carrying out strikes on targets belonging to Hezbollah, according to the Lebanese state-run news agency NNA.
The support would aim to end armed activities and enable the authorities to control the entirety of the Lebanese territories, the report said, without specifying the kind of backing the US could offer.
Mr Aoun received a US Treasury Department delegation headed by Dr Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to President Donald Trump, at the presidential residence on the outskirts of Beirut.
Mr Aoun, who was named President in January after a ceasefire agreement ended a two-month war
Last week, the Jewish state launched some of its heaviest air strikes on Lebanon since the US and French-backed truce took effect, fuelling concerns that the conflict could be reignited.
The Israeli army ascribes its post-ceasefire attacks on Lebanon to Hezbollah’s attempts to rebuild its military capabilities, which were greatly degraded during the war in 2024.
Israel must adhere to the peace deal for Lebanese military troops to be deployed near the southern borders and to implement the US-backed disarmament plan, Mr Aoun said.
He commissioned the army in the summer to set out a plan to keep all weapons in Lebanon under state control by year’s end.
Mr Tom Barrack, the US Ambassador to Turkey and an envoy for Lebanon, said the Lebanese government was struggling to seize Hezbollah’s weapons.
The group has refused to hand over its arms, citing Israeli “aggression”.
The precarious situation in Lebanon threatens an already-shaky ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, another proxy of Iran and an ally of Hezbollah.
The truce in Gaza is part of Mr Trump’s plan to end the war that erupted in the coastal enclave more than two years ago and led to another between Israel and Hezbollah, which stepped in to support Palestinians in Gaza. BLOOMBERG
