An archive photo of the White House in Washington D.C. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — The US is working to deploy a "carrot and stick" approach of incentives and sanctions to prevent Lebanon from becoming a failed state, an unnamed Biden administration official was quoted as saying in a White House press statement.
Here’s what we know:
• In an end of the year press call regarding the Middle East, the unnamed official said that Lebanon has all the signs of “a potential failed state,” adding that Washington’s policy is seeking to prevent “any more failed states in the Middle East region.”
• The official said that Washington’s policy regarding Lebanon has been a “combination of carrots and sticks,” citing US sanctions on allegedly corrupt officials. In its latest sanctions involving Lebanon, the US department of Treasury on Oct. 28 blacklisted two politically connected businessmen and an MP for corruption.
• The official added that the US was working with France on Lebanon and was in close touch with Premier Najib Mikati, whose cabinet has not met since Oct. 12.
• In the statement, the unnamed official also said that the US was undertaking efforts to facilitate a World Bank-backed deal to provide natural gas from Egypt to Lebanon to alleviate the electricity crisis in the country.