Lebanon is under pressure from the US and Gulf nations to completely disarm Hezbollah in exchange for loans and investments needed to rebuild the country following a devastating war with Israel last year, Bloomberg reported Saturday.
US President Donald Trump has presented Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam with recommendations for dismantling the group, according to Tom Barrack, the US envoy to the country. Barrack said the US has told Aoun it is willing to serve as an intermediary if he moves to disband Hezbollah.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait have told President Aoun and Prime Minister Salam that “funds for reconstruction and investment in Lebanon are contingent upon a timetable-bound plan to fully disarm Hezbollah,” Bloomberg wrote, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter.
US envoy Barrack also emphasized that disarming and dismantling Hezbollah, the Shia resistance movement that has defended the country from Israel for decades, is the key to unlocking Gulf funding.
“Gulf countries have said, ‘if you do these things, we will come to the south of Lebanon, and we will fund an industrial zone, renovation, and jobs,’” he said.
Much of southern Lebanon was destroyed by relentless Israeli bombing during the two-month war last fall. Prime Minister Salam has asked the Lebanese military to present a plan by the end of August to dismantle all non-state armed groups by the end of the year.
Hezbollah issued a statement on Wednesday saying it would not respect the government’s demand that it disarm. The group accused Salam of committing a “grave sin” by pursuing a “surrender strategy” amid “ongoing Israeli aggression and occupation.”
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said Tuesday that Hezbollah “won’t engage on disarmament just because the US or a certain Arab country is seeking and applying all the pressure it can muster.”
