Over strenuous objections from the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group, the Lebanese government cabinet voted on Thursday to approve the “objectives” of a proposal from the Trump administration to disarm the terror proxy that has controlled the southern part of the country.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s announcement was met with cautious optimism in Washington.
Tom Barrack, U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria, congratulated Salam, the Lebanese president and the Council of Ministers for “the historic, bold and correct decision this week to begin fully implementing the November 2024 Cessation of Hostilities agreement, U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 and the Taif Agreement.” (Those measures call on the Lebanese government and military to retake total control of the country.)
“This week’s cabinet resolutions finally put into motion the ‘One Nation, One Army’ solution for Lebanon,” Barrack said. “We stand behind the Lebanese people.”
Hezbollah is in its weakest position in decades due to Israeli military operations, including a coordinated pager attack that decimated its rank-and-file and airstrikes that took out its top leaders.
Israel and the United States, and some of their allies, see this as the best opportunity to return control of all of Lebanon to the state, whose president, Joseph Aoun, is seen as friendly to the West.
“More than at any other time, Lebanon’s future is in the hands of its people,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), told JNS from Beirut, where he met with Aoun. Issa, who is of Lebanese heritage, serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“As the elected government charts a path forward, America stands ready to support Lebanon, and we—both Congress and the administration—will work with all our regional partners to ensure that as Lebanon rebuilds its state institutions, the Lebanese, and only the Lebanese, control their destiny and their territory,” he told JNS.
The U.S. proposal approved on Thursday aims to ensure that “the possession of weapons is restricted solely to the state.” However, Lebanon’s information minister said there were no discussions of specific timelines for disarmament, or about the end of Israel’s military operations in southern Lebanon.
The U.S. plan seeks to remove Hezbollah’s weapons by year’s end, along with other detailed timetables. Israeli military withdrawal from five strategic points in Lebanon is a key component of the multi-phased deal.
Hezbollah officials called the cabinet decision a “march in humiliation” and said they would treat it as if it didn’t exist.
Tommy Pigott, the principal deputy U.S. State Department spokesman, told reporters on Thursday that the Lebanese government’s decision “is an important step towards Lebanese sovereignty.”
“We continue to watch developments in Lebanon very closely,” he said.
Pigott said that Barrack made clear to the Lebanese what U.S. President Donald Trump wants to see happen.
“Words will not suffice. The Lebanese Armed Forces must fully commit and act now to fully implement the government’s decision,” Pigott said. “The credibility of Lebanon’s government rests on its ability to match a principle with practice.”
