American envoy Morgan Ortagus in Baabda, on Feb. 7, 2025. (Credit: @lebanesepresidency/X)
"It's a matter that's settled." This is how Marwan Hamadeh, a Progressive Socialist Party MP, told L'Orient-Le Jour on the recent exchange between Walid Joumblatt and the American deputy Middle East envoy, Morgan Ortagus, on X. A war of words that made headlines, prompting some media to claim that the increasingly critical Joumblatt of U.S. policy in the region could be subject to U.S. sanctions. During her last visit to Beirut at the beginning of the month, Ortagus did not include Joumblatt – usually sought after by international envoys – in her tour of the main political decision-makers. "We have no problem with the Americans," said Hamadeh, as if to put an end to the controversy once and for all.In a recent interview, Joumblatt called the "conditions" imposed by the Trump administration for...
"It's a matter that's settled." This is how Marwan Hamadeh, a Progressive Socialist Party MP, told L'Orient-Le Jour on the recent exchange between Walid Joumblatt and the American deputy Middle East envoy, Morgan Ortagus, on X. A war of words that made headlines, prompting some media to claim that the increasingly critical Joumblatt of U.S. policy in the region could be subject to U.S. sanctions. During her last visit to Beirut at the beginning of the month, Ortagus did not include Joumblatt – usually sought after by international envoys – in her tour of the main political decision-makers. "We have no problem with the Americans," said Hamadeh, as if to put an end to the controversy once and for all.In a recent interview, Joumblatt called the "conditions" imposed by the Trump administration...
