American envoy Thomas Barrack in Ain al-Tineh, on June 19, 2025. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient-Le Jour)
The Lebanese response to the American roadmap was to be finalized on Tuesday evening, L'Orient-Le Jour learned from an informed source. Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri will then submit it to Hezbollah, which for now remains firm on its positions.
The party is demanding an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, international guarantees, an end to targeted strikes and the release of prisoners. It also rejected any imposed deadline for its disarmament and insists on the need to restart dialogue around the defense strategy. American envoy Thomas Barrack is expected in Beirut next Monday, according to the same source. If Berri manages to obtain Hezbollah's agreement, a Cabinet meeting would then convene at that time for the entire government to endorse the Lebanese response.
The Lebanese response would emphasize Lebanon's commitment to ensure the state has a monopoly on arms, that it is actively working on this issue, and that the army continues its efforts in this regard. Lebanon will also demand the withdrawal of Israel, the end of attacks and the initiation of reconstruction efforts.
The American demands were transmitted to Beirut on June 19 by Barrack. The U.S. envoy handed over a six-page written roadmap to the officials, asking them to communicate any potential modifications by July 1. This document, focused on Hezbollah's disarmament and other armed groups, also called for a warming of relations with neighboring Syria and financial reforms. It called for a gradual disarmament of Hezbollah in exchange for a withdrawal of Israeli troops from areas they occupy in southern Lebanon.
End of strikes and reconstruction
Barrack said that the complete disarmament should be completed by November, or by the end of the year at the latest. This process would end Israeli strikes against Hezbollah members and would allow funds to be released to rebuild areas destroyed by Israel. The United States warned it would not support any reconstruction as long as the party does not surrender its arms. The project also mentioned a mechanism, under U.N. supervision, to ensure the release by Israel of prisoners linked to Hezbollah.
The American envoy reportedly urged officials to seize this opportunity, arguing it "may not present itself again." However, the plan has not yet received approval from Israel, nor from the State Department, the same source said.
The latest conflict between Hezbollah and Israel began on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas's operation in Israel that led Gaza into a spiral of violence. This war, which reached a peak of intensity between September and November 2024 in Lebanon, left Hezbollah weakened. It ended with a cease-fire on Nov. 27, 2024, based on U.N. resolution 1701, which also ended the 2006 war, stipulating Hezbollah's disarmament in southern Lebanon and progressively throughout the rest of the country. Despite the cease-fire, the Israeli army continues to occupy five points in southern Lebanon and violates the cease-fire on an almost daily basis.
Since the end of the war between Israel and Hezbollah at the end of November 2024, Lebanese authorities claim to be dismantling the military infrastructure of the party in the south, but Israel continues to bomb Hezbollah-related targets, accusing the Lebanese government of not doing enough to disarm it.
Hezbollah has not yet publicly responded to the American proposal. But on Monday, its secretary-general, Naim Qassem, stated during a televised speech that the party would reject American and Israeli pressures, calling on Lebanese to do the same.
"We have the right to say no to America, no to Israel," he said. "We call on the Lebanese not to aid Israel and the United States in their plans."
According to him, these two countries "want to exploit the moment to impose their own equation on the entire region."
