Lebanese President Joseph Aoun enters a pivotal week in Washington after receiving a strong public endorsement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who framed Lebanon’s future as dependent on strengthening the state, disarming Hezbollah and restoring the government’s monopoly over the use of force.
Following their meeting on Sunday, Rubio described the talks as “very positive,” saying the best outcome for Lebanon would be “to have a government, a legitimate government, his government, that controls the country.”
“The biggest problem Lebanon has is that you have a political movement that also has an armed militia that is not just well armed and trained and equipped and financed by Iran, but they use that to conduct terrorism,” Rubio said, referring to Hezbollah.
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He argued that defeating Hezbollah does not simply mean military confrontation, but replacing its role with stronger state institutions.
