A Trump administration envoy to the Middle East pressed Lebanon’s new leaders on Friday to ensure that Hezbollah does not become part of the government, as the country grapples with a fragile cease-fire and violence that could undermine its push for stability.
The United States deputy envoy to the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, said at a news conference in Beirut that the United States has set “clear red lines” with the Lebanese government to isolate Hezbollah. Ms. Ortagus said that Lebanon’s leaders were committed to ensuring that the Iran-backed militia “is not a part of this government in any form.”
Her remarks came after she met with Lebanon’s new president, Joseph Aoun, who later appeared to contradict her suggestion. In a statement, his office said that some of Ms. Ortagus’s comments expressed her “personal viewpoint,” without elaborating on which ones.
Lebanon’s new leadership will most likely need to strike a balance with Hezbollah, which has long been the country’s dominant political force, but has been battered by a 14-month war with Israel. Washington has sought to capitalize on Hezbollah’s weakened standing in recent weeks by pressuring Lebanese officials to undermine its political stranglehold, but the group still holds significant power in Parliament.
The visit by Ms. Ortagus, a former State Department spokeswoman, was the first by a senior U.S. official since Mr. Trump took office, providing some of the earliest public indications of what the U.S. administration’s objectives look like in Lebanon.
Mr. Aoun was elected president last month, after years of political gridlock, and he has designated a new prime minister, Nawaf Salam, to form a government. That is seen as crucial step to restoring stability to Lebanon after years of crisis, but the effort has so far been slow.
In Lebanon, cabinet posts have traditionally been divided up along sectarian lines under a decades-old power sharing agreement among 18 religious groups. The new government would need a vote of confidence from Lebanon’s 128-member Parliament, where Hezbollah and its allies hold a significant number of seats.
Hezbollah’s continued sway would put the new government in a bind. Lebanon is emerging from its deadliest war in decades and desperately needs foreign funding to rebuild, but Western governments are loath to send aid to a government with unfettered Hezbollah influence.
Facing political pressure from Hezbollah and the group’s allies, Mr. Salam has so far allowed them to select four out of five Shiite Muslim ministers in his new cabinet — a likely cause for alarm in Washington.
The selection of Mr. Salam, who is seen as a reformist, marked a blow to Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim group. Political opponents had hoped that the Shiite nominations to Mr. Salam’s new government — as mandated under the country’s sectarian power-sharing agreement — would be for people without ties to Hezbollah.
“If there are any Hezbollah operatives that are appointed to key positions in the new government, it will complicate if not destroy any support from the new Trump administration,” said Ed Gabriel, president of the American Task Force on Lebanon, a nonprofit aimed at strengthening ties between the United States and Lebanon.
“It will be a wrench in the works,” he said.
The mounting diplomatic pressure comes at a delicate time.
Under the terms of a 60-day cease-fire that ended the war between Israel and Hezbollah in November, Israeli troops were supposed to have withdrawn by now from Lebanon.
But they have not done so, and Israeli forces killed two dozen people last month, according to Lebanese officials, as thousands of people attempted to return to their homes near the border when the cease-fire expired. The Israeli military said that it had fired “warning shots in order to eliminate threats.”
With the truce deal now extended until Feb. 18, many in Lebanon now fear the prospect of a sustained Israeli occupation of the country’s south. During the news conference on Friday, Ms. Ortagus said that the U.S. was committed to the new cease-fire deadline and that Israeli troops were expected to withdraw by then.
But with tensions rising, the Israeli military carried out a new series of airstrikes overnight deep inside Lebanese territory. The military said it had targeted Hezbollah military sites and accused the group of breaking the terms of the cease-fire agreement. Both sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the deal.
Lebanon’s state-run news agency reported attacks in southern and eastern Lebanon, which appeared to be some of the most intense since the war ended in November. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Fighting also continued on Friday along the Lebanese-Syrian border, where skirmishes erupted a day earlier between Syrian forces and armed gunmen in Lebanon. Syria’s new rebel authorities said they were attempting to clamp down on cross-border smuggling networks, according to Syria’s state news agency, SANA.
Since President Bashar al-Assad of Syria was toppled in December, Lebanon has feared further instability spilling across its borders.
Source: nytimes.com
