Tom Barrack says Beirut will set out plan on Sunday. Hezbollah has rejected it as Israel continues attacks in violation of November ceasefire.
Lebanon has agreed to present a plan aimed at persuading Hezbollah to disarm, and Israel will submit a corresponding framework for its military withdrawal, United States envoy Tom Barrack says, as the Lebanese armed group has repeatedly made clear it has no intention of doing so while Israel continues its attacks on the country and occupies parts of the south.
Speaking on Tuesday after talks with President Joseph Aoun in Beirut, Barrack said the plan would be presented on Sunday and would not involve military coercion but would focus on efforts to encourage Hezbollah to surrender its weapons.
“The Lebanese army and government are not talking about going to war. They are talking about how to convince Hezbollah to give up those arms,” Barrack said.
While no formal proposals have been exchanged, Barrack said verbal commitments from both sides suggested a narrowing path towards implementation.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Lebanon had embarked on an irreversible path to place all weapons under state control with the army due to present a comprehensive plan by next week.
Earlier this month, Lebanon’s cabinet approved the “objectives” of a US proposal for “ensuring that the possession of weapons is restricted solely to the state” despite Hezbollah rejecting the decision and calling it a “march in humiliation” and surrender to Israel and the US.
Speaking to journalists at Lebanon’s presidential palace in Baabda on Tuesday, US envoy Morgan Ortagus said Lebanese authorities must put into “action” their decision to disarm Hezbollah. “Every step that the Lebanese government takes, we will encourage the Israeli government to make the same step,” she added.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem has refused to give up the group’s weapons. In a speech aired on Monday, Qassem criticised the government’s decision to disarm the group and urged officials to reverse it, saying pulling back “would be a virtue”.
The armed group has long been the sole resistance to Israeli aggression against Lebanon. But it emerged badly weakened from last year’s war with Israel, with the assassination of senior leaders, including former chief Hassan Nasrallah, thousands of its fighters and Lebanese civilians killed, and tens of thousands of the Shia and other communities displaced from their destroyed homes.
He also warned that Lebanon’s sovereignty could be achieved only by ending Israeli “aggression” and said the Lebanese government must first ensure Israel complies with a November ceasefire – by which Israel should withdraw its troops from Lebanese territory – before talks on a national defence strategy can take place.
Israel has violated the November truce on a near-daily basis.
Israel to withdraw from Lebanon
Israel signalled on Monday that it would scale back its military presence in southern Lebanon if Lebanon’s armed forces took action to disarm the group.
Barrack, who met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, described that development as “historic”.
“What Israel has now said is ‘We don’t want to occupy Lebanon. We’re happy to withdraw from Lebanon,’ and we will meet those withdrawal expectations with our plan as soon as we see what is the plan to actually disarm Hezbollah,” he said.
media’s correspondent Ali Hashem said Israel has consolidated its presence in southern Lebanon since it agreed to the November ceasefire.
“There were five positions inside the Lebanese territory [at the time of the ceasefire], and we are now hearing of eight positions,” Hashem said.
“It’s clear that Israel is trying to take the main hills inside Lebanon and Syria [to obtain] what it describes as an early warning system.”
Hashem added that Israel’s expansion of its presence in Lebanon was the main hurdle hampering attempts to persuade Hezbollah to give up its arms.
An additional impediment was the fact that the ceasefire states that Hezbollah must disarm south of the Litani River, about 30km (20 miles) from the Israeli border, rather than in the whole country.
Barrack stressed that any disarmament initiative must address the economic impact on tens of thousands of Hezbollah fighters and their families, many of whom purportedly rely on Iranian funding.
“If we’re asking a portion of the Lebanese community to give up their livelihood – because when we say disarm Hezbollah, we’re talking about 40,000 people being paid by Iran – you can’t just take their weapons and say, ‘Good luck, go plant olive trees.’ We have to help them.”
He said Gulf states, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, were prepared to support Lebanon’s economy – particularly in the south, a Hezbollah stronghold – as part of an initiative to provide alternatives to Hezbollah.
US envoy accused of racism
Barrack triggered a firestorm in Beirut, where he was accused of racism after threatening the Lebanese news media with ending his news conference if they behaved in a way he described as uncivilised and “animalistic”.
“Be quiet for a moment, and I wanna tell you something. The moment that this starts to becoming chaotic, like animalistic, we’re gone,” he said.
“So, [if] you want to know what has happened, act civilised, act kind, act tolerant, because this is the problem with what is happening in the region.”
Lebanese-British journalist Hala Jaber said Barrack’s manner was that of a “19th-century colonial commissioner” who “lectures us on ‘civilisation,’ & blames it all on our ‘region’,” she wrote on X.
“That’s not just arrogance, it’s racism. You don’t run this country, [and] you don’t get to insult its people.”
Mohamad Hasan Sweidan, a Beirut-based columnist at The Cradle news site, says the US Department of State owes all journalists in the region an apology for Barrack’s “dehumanising” comments.
“He dehumanised us. He was arrogant towards us, and he used colonial terms,” Sweidan told media. “Calling journalists ‘animalistic’ and urging them to civilise isn’t just a slip for Tom Barrack. … It’s a textbook colonial gesture.”
Later on Tuesday, the Lebanese presidency released a statement saying “it regrets the remarks that were inadvertently made from its platform by one of its guests today. … It is keen to reiterate its full appreciation for all journalists and accredited media representatives in particular, and extends to them all greetings for their efforts and dedication in fulfilling their professional and national duties.”
