Following Israel talks, US envoy will arrive in Lebanon

Leading US envoy, Tom Barrack, and the Deputy US Special Envoy, Morgan Ortagus, are due to arrive in Lebanon on August 25th, Asharq Al-Awsat reported.

The planned visit from the envoys comes after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Barrack on August 24th. According to sources which spoke to Reuters, the discussions within this meeting placed a focus on Washington’s request that Israel should reduce strikes targeting Lebanon, with the hope an agreement leading to the disarmament of Hezbollah can be made.

However, according to informed sources, negotiations between the Lebanese President, Joseph Aoun, and Hezbollah have failed to achieve the disarmament of the Iran-backed military group, despite the government’s decision to impose state control over arms.

Hezbollah has said they will not respond to any initiative until Israel’s positions are clear.

The group has said that since the Lebanese government has imposed laws restricting arms, Israel should do something in return, starting by staying true to the 2024 November ceasefire agreement.

On July 29th, Israel stated they had carried out roughly 500 strikes on Lebanon- an open agreement of their violation of the ceasefire.

Hezbollah MP Hussein al-Hajj Hassan, said, concerning the upcoming meeting between Barrack and the Lebanese government: “The envoy returns to Lebanon with answers from the Israeli enemy to the government plan. We know that the US is the source of terrorism in the world and that Israel is its top pawn in carrying it out.”

Hassan argued calls for a monopoly over arms and the disarmament of Hezbollah is “surrendering to the demands of the enemy and American dictates.”

Meanwhile the Hezbollah critic Ashraf Rifi has said “there can be no state with two sets of weapons. The state can only have one legitimate national army that protects the nation and its sovereignty.”

Rifi likens the refusal of Hezbollah to lay down its arms to a “coup against the state” stating that “the Lebanese people are now afraid of the deceit of this party and its weapons.”

Asharq Al-Awsat, Reuters, Maghrebi.org