US envoy Barrack proposed the zone, but analysts say locals don’t trust Israel or the US’s ability to control it.
By Justin Salhani
The United States has floated a proposal for an economic zone in southern Lebanon in what analysts tell Al Jazeera is a far-fetched and poorly thought-out plan to incentivise the Lebanese government to push on with disarming Hezbollah.
The US envoy to the Middle East, Thomas Barrack, floated the economic zone during a visit to Lebanon on Tuesday but provided few details other than hints at financing.
“We, all of us – the Gulf, the US, the Lebanese – are all going to act together to create an economic forum that is going to produce a livelihood,” Barrack told journalists.
