Israeli military vehicles cross a cement barrier on the border between Israel and the southern Lebanese village of Dhayra, on Feb. 17, 2025 (Credit: Jalaa Marey/AFP)
BEIRUT — Lebanese authorities are seeking guarantees that Israeli forces fully withdraw from Lebanese territory in response to a U.S. demand that Beirut formally commit to disarming militant group Hezbollah, a Lebanese official said Monday.
Lebanese leaders who took office in the aftermath of a war between Israel and Hezbollah last year have repeatedly vowed a state monopoly on bearing arms while demanding Israel comply with a November cease-fire that ended the fighting.
The Lebanese government official told AFP that, in a recent visit, U.S. envoy Tom Barrack had presented the demand for Beirut to officially commit to start disarming the Iran-backed group as stipulated in the November agreement, along with a full Israeli withdrawal.
President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is a key Hezbollah ally, "are preparing a response," said the official on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the media.
With Barrack, Washington's ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, expected back in Beirut by mid-July, the Lebanese leaders "will demand a halt to Israeli violations of the cease-fire, Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon, the release of prisoners [detained during the war and cease-fire] and the demarcation of the border," the official revealed.
Barrack also asked that Lebanon work on securing its border with Syria and pursue the economic reforms demanded by international creditors, the official added.
Aoun and Salam took office early this year as the balance of power shifted following the Israel-Hezbollah war that left the militant group — long an important player in Lebanese politics — severely weakened.
The disarmament of Hezbollah's military infrastructure has been underway for months in the South, with Salam declaring that most of its armaments had been taken over by the Lebanese Army, but that ongoing Israeli occupation and daily Israeli attacks in the country are hindering the process's completion.
Israel has continued to strike Lebanon despite the November cease-fire, claiming to hit Hezbollah targets and accusing Beirut of not doing enough to disarm the group.
According to the cease-fire agreement, Hezbollah is to pull its fighters back north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli frontier. Israel was to withdraw its troops from all of Lebanon, which it has failed to do, claiming it need to retain five "strategic" outposts for security purposes.
Meanwhile Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Monday that his government was "interested" in normalizing ties with Lebanon and neighboring Syria, which both do not recognize Israel and have been technically at war with it since its creation in 1948.
There was no comment from Beirut or Damascus, but the Lebanese government official told AFP normalization was not among the U.S. envoy's demands.
BEIRUT — Lebanese authorities are seeking guarantees that Israeli forces fully withdraw from Lebanese territory in response to a U.S. demand that Beirut formally commit to disarming militant group Hezbollah, a Lebanese official said Monday.
Lebanese leaders who took office in the aftermath of a war between Israel and Hezbollah last year have repeatedly vowed a state monopoly on bearing arms while demanding Israel comply with a November cease-fire that ended the fighting.
The Lebanese government official told AFP that, in a recent visit, U.S. envoy Tom Barrack had presented the demand for Beirut to officially commit to start disarming the Iran-backed group as stipulated in the November agreement, along with a full Israeli withdrawal.
President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf...
