American envoy Morgan Ortagus during a meeting in Beirut on April 5, 2025. (Credit: Ibrahim Amro/AFP)
Arriving in Beirut on Monday evening, ahead of a new round of meetings with Lebanese officials, U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus said Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem and his party "do not represent the Lebanese people."
"They represent foreign forces. They represent Iran," Ortagus told reporters Monday. She added that "the United States is trying to strengthen the Lebanese state, its government, its public institutions and its army."
"We want what President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam want — even what Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri wants: a strong, sovereign and independent Lebanon," she said.
Support for the army in disarmament
Washington, she said, "does not want Lebanon to be controlled by anyone except its state and its people." She emphasized that "those who truly love Lebanon are seeking to strengthen the state and its institutions, not let it be destroyed by foreign forces."
Ortagus added that the U.S. "will help the Lebanese Army develop and execute" the plan to disarm Hezbollah.
Her remarks came just hours before she joined U.S. envoy Tom Barrack on a tour of meetings with Lebanese officials. At the start of August, the government approved a "roadmap" presented by Barrack that calls for Hezbollah’s disarmament.
On Monday, Qassem said the party would not allow its weapons to be removed. That same day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed "Lebanon’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah" by the end of the year and suggested Israel could "reduce" its presence in southern Lebanon if the disarmament were carried out.
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