There are fears that pressure for quick results is threatening the Lebanese effort to gradually build a stronger state
Middle East crisis – live updates
Under mounting US pressure, Lebanon’s government is being forced into a dangerous choice. Does it want to fight a war with Israel or does it want to fight a war at home, with Hezbollah?
In recent weeks, the US has been pushing for the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah. The government had already been moving in that direction, but not at the pace the US wanted. Lebanese media began to fill with warnings from unnamed sources that if Hezbollah’s arms were not confiscated soon, a second war with Israel could be on the horizon.
On Tuesday, the Lebanese government acquiesced and announced the Lebanese army would draw up a plan to place arms exclusively within the hands of the state by year’s end. Hezbollah and its political ally Amal announced the next day that they would “treat the decision as if it did not exist” and accused the government of serving US diktats.
