US Ambassador to Turkey and President Donald Trump's special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, said on Monday that he was "very satisfied" with the Lebanese government's response to a US proposal on how to disarm Hezbollah, while warning that Lebanon "will be left behind" if it does not move in line with the regional changes taking place.
Barak added: "I am grateful for the Lebanese response... The response is thoughtful and balanced. We are working on a plan to move forward, and to achieve that, we need dialogue." He continued: "What the government presented to us was wonderful. In a very short time, and in a very complex way, I feel incredibly satisfied with this response."
Barak stated, "Hezbollah is a political party, and it also has an armed side. Hezbollah needs to see that there is a future for them, that this path is not designed to be solely against them, and that there is an intersection between peace and prosperity for them as well."
Barak visited Lebanon on June 19, met with Lebanese officials, and presented a set of proposals for implementing the security arrangements related to the cessation of hostilities that had been approved by the previous government in November.
President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri discussed the US proposals.
Israel launched airstrikes on multiple sites in Lebanon yesterday evening, claiming to have targeted Hezbollah military positions, hours after the party's Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, announced his refusal to surrender his weapons.
In recent days, Israel has been escalating its targeting of southern Lebanon, bombing military sites it says Hezbollah is rehabilitating, and pursuing members of the party. The attacks killed one person and injured six others last Saturday.
Observers believe that these operations, which coincided with Barak's arrival in Beirut, convey a message to the Lebanese state and the five-member committee monitoring the ceasefire: If the Lebanese state fails to disarm the party, it will resume its military operations and assume this task alone.
Although Israeli operations in Lebanon have not ceased since the ceasefire went into effect on November 27, their intensification on the eve of the US envoy's arrival in Beirut indicates that Israel, and the US administration behind it, is exerting maximum pressure on Lebanon to expedite the disarmament of the party.
"Lebanon's hope is awakening! The opportunity is now," Barak said the day before yesterday. He continued: "This is a historic moment to transcend the tense sectarianism of the past and realize Lebanon's true promise of hope (one country, one people, one army)." He added: "As the President of the United States has always shared with the world: Lebanon is a great place, with a great people. Let us make Lebanon great again."
שתף את דעתך
Barak is "very satisfied" with the Lebanese response to the American paper.