US envoys in Lebanon as Hezbollah balks at disarmament plan
Israel said it was “ready to support” Lebanon’s efforts to disarm the militant group by year's end.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration dispatched two senior envoys to Beirut on Monday to advance a plan aimed at disarming Hezbollah and facilitating the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.
US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who also serves as envoy to Syria, and Morgan Ortagus, a senior adviser in the US Mission to the United Nations, arrived in the Lebanese capital after meeting with Israeli officials on Sunday. In Beirut, Barrack and Ortagus plan to meet with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a US official familiar with the schedule said.
Their visit comes after the Lebanese cabinet approved on Aug. 7 a US roadmap to disarm Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group that wields significant political power in Lebanon and is supported by Iran. The Lebanese military faces an Aug. 31 deadline to produce a plan to disarm Hezbollah and bring all weapons under state authority by the end of 2025.
Barrack has called on the Israeli government to reciprocate. Axios reports that the US envoy asked Israel to scale back its "non-urgent" military action to encourage the Lebanese government's process of disarming Hezbollah.
