BEIRUT: Washington is ramping up pressure on Beirut to swiftly issue a formal cabinet decision committing to disarm Hezbollah before talks can resume on a halt to Israel’s military operations in Lebanon, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Without a public commitment from Lebanese ministers, the US will no longer dispatch US envoy Thomas Barrack to Beirut for negotiations with Lebanese officials, or pressure Israel either to stop airstrikes or pull its troops from south Lebanon, according to the sources, who include two Lebanese officials, two diplomats and a Lebanese source familiar with the matter.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Washington and Beirut have been in talks for nearly six weeks on a US roadmap to fully disarm the militant Lebanese Hezbollah party in exchange for Israel to end its strikes and withdraw its troops from five points in southern Lebanon.
The original proposal included a condition that Lebanon’s government pass a cabinet decision pledging to disarm Hezbollah. Hezbollah has publicly refused to hand over its arsenal in full, but the group has privately weighed scaling it back.
