Lindsey Graham ends meeting with Lebanese army commander over Hezbollah stance

US Senator Lindsey Graham announced that he abruptly ended a meeting with Lebanese Army Commander Rudolph Heikel due to differing views on the classification of Hezbollah. Graham explained in a post on the 'X' platform on Thursday that he held a meeting he described as 'very short' with Heikel, where he directly asked him if he considered Hezbollah a terrorist organization. The army commander's response was a rejection within the Lebanese context, which prompted the senator to immediately end the meeting.

Graham considered Hezbollah a 'clear terrorist organization' that caused the bloodshed of Americans, pointing to its official designation as a foreign terrorist organization by successive US administrations since 1997. The senator added that the continuation of this stance by the Lebanese Armed Forces undermines confidence in them as a reliable partner, expressing his dissatisfaction with what he described as 'double-speak' in the Middle East.

In a related context, the Lebanese government had approved a decision last August to restrict weapons to the state, which includes Hezbollah's weapons. However, the party has affirmed on several occasions its adherence to its weapons, linking this to the necessity of ending Israeli aggression and withdrawing from occupied Lebanese territories.

For its part, the Lebanese Army announced in a previous statement that its plan to extend control and restrict weapons had achieved the goals of its first phase in the area south of the Litani River, while warning that continuous Israeli violations negatively affect the completion of these steps.

In the same context, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam affirmed last Tuesday that the main obstacle preventing the completion of the state's authority in the south is the continued Israeli occupation of several border points, stressing the need for a complete withdrawal to enable the state to exercise its sovereignty.

As long as this position continues on the part of the Lebanese Armed Forces, I do not believe we have a reliable partner in them.