US pressures Lebanon to issue formal decision to disarm Hezbollah before talks continue
Without a public commitment from Lebanese ministers, the US will no longer dispatch US envoy Thomas Barrack to Beirut for negotiations with Lebanese officials, or pressure Israel either to stop airstrikes or pull its troops from south Lebanon, according to the sources, who include two Lebanese officials, two diplomats and a Lebanese source familiar with the matter.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Washington and Beirut have been in talks for nearly six weeks on a US roadmap to fully disarm the militant Lebanese Hezbollah party in exchange for Israel to end its strikes and withdraw its troops from five points in southern Lebanon.
The original proposal included a condition that Lebanon's government pass a cabinet decision pledging to disarm Hezbollah. Hezbollah has publicly refused to hand over its arsenal in full, but the group has privately weighed scaling it back.
The group, designated a terrorist organization by the US and much of the West, has also told Lebanese officials that Israel must take the first step by withdrawing its troops and stopping drone strikes on Hezbollah fighters and arms depots.
Hezbollah's main ally, Lebanese speaker of parliament Nabih Berri, asked the US to ensure that Israel halt its strikes as a first step, in order to fully implement the ceasefire agreed last year that ended months of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, according to four of the sources.
Israel rejected Berri's proposal late last week, the four sources said. There was no immediate response from the Israeli prime minister's office to questions from Reuters on the issue.
The US then began insisting that a cabinet vote take place imminently, all the sources said.
'The US is saying there's no more Barrack, no more papers back and forth - the council of ministers should take a decision and then we can keep discussing. They cannot wait any longer,' the Lebanese source said.
The source and the Lebanese officials said Prime Minister Nawaf Salam would seek to hold a session in the coming days. Barrack met Salam in Beirut last week and said Washington cannot 'compel' Israel to do anything.
In a post on X after his visit, Barrack said that 'as long as Hezbollah retains arms, words will not suffice. The government and [Hezbollah] need to fully commit and act now in order to not consign the Lebanese people to the stumbling status quo.'
All the sources said that Lebanon's rulers fear that a failure to issue a clear commitment to disarm Hezbollah could trigger escalated Israeli strikes, including on Beirut.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Saudi Gazette
an hour ago
- Saudi Gazette
Far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir prays at al-Aqsa, violating decades-old agreement
JERUSALEM — Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited and prayed at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site on Sunday, the al-Aqsa compound, triggering a wave of regional condemnation and sparking fears of further escalations in tensions. The provocative move came as Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip continue, with at least 33 Palestinians killed on Sunday enroute to aid distribution points, as global criticisms mount over Israel manufacturing famine-like conditions in the besieged enclave. Ben-Gvir's visit to the hillside compound threatens to further setback efforts by international mediators, such as Qatar and Egypt, to bring an end to Israel's almost two-year military offensive on Gaza. The area, which Jews call the 'Temple Mount', is the holiest site in Judaism and is believed to be home to the ancient biblical temples. Muslims however call the site the 'Noble Sanctuary', which today is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site. Visits to the site, the first Islamic Qibla – the direction Muslims across the world pray towards, by Israeli officials are considered a provocation across the Arab and Muslim world. Openly praying on the premises violates a longstanding status quo. Jews have been allowed to visit and tour the holy compound, but are barred from praying there, with Israeli troops and police meant to ensure that as they protect the premises. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office says Israel would not change the norms governing the site following Ben-Gvir's far-right minister visited the site following Hamas' release of videos showing an Israeli hostage in Gaza appearing thin and weak. The video sparked an uproar in Israel and piled pressure on Netanyahu's government to strike a deal to bring back the remaining 50 hostages are still under Hamas captivity in Gaza, 20 of which are still believed to be alive. They were taken after Hamas staged an attack on southern Israel on 7 October, 2023, killing 1,200 mission to the UN said it requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the hostages, which will take place Tuesday.'They do not want a deal,' Netanyahu said of Hamas. 'They want to break us using these videos of horror.'His office said it spoke with the Red Cross to seek help in providing the hostages with food and medical care. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was 'appalled by the harrowing videos' and called for access to the military wing said it was ready to respond positively to Red Cross requests to deliver food to hostages, if humanitarian corridors are opened in a 'regular and permanent manner' in called for Israel to formally annex the Gaza Strip and renewed his desire to a Palestinian expulsion from the territory, with it reviving rhetoric that has complicated hostage deal and ceasefire said the video showing 24-year-old Evyatar David in a dimly lit tunnel is an attempt to pressure Israel and increase global criticism against it to strike a deal, which he opposed, instead endorsing further attacks on visit was condemned as an incitement by Palestinian leaders, as well as Jordan – custodians of the al-Aqsa Mosque, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Houthi rebels in Yemen fired three drones at Israel shortly after, which Israel said were previous visits to the holy site caused an eruption in violence in and around the site, fuelling an 11-day war with Hamas in officials in Gaza say Israeli forces killed 33 Palestinians on Sunday enroute to aid distribution hubs. Eyewitnesses say Israeli soldiers opened fire as hungry crowds surged towards the aid Yousef Abed described coming under indiscriminate fire and seeing at least three people bleeding on the ground. 'I couldn't stop and help them because of the bullets,' he hospitals in southern and central Gaza said they received bodies from routes leading to the Israeli-backed US company, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's (GHF) aid sites, including 11 killed in the Teina area while trying to reach the hub in Khan Palestinian eyewitnesses, including one traveling through Teina, said they saw soldiers open fire on the routes, which are in military military said it was not aware of casualties as a result of its gunfire near aid sites. GHF's media office said there was no gunfire 'near or at our sites.'The United Nations says 859 people were killed near GHF sites from 27 May to 31 July and hundreds of others have been killed along the routes of UN-led food says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding. The IDF said it only fires warning shots. Both claim the death tolls have been Hamas-run Health Ministry says 93 children and 82 adults have died so far from malnutrition-related UN says 500-600 aid trucks are needed daily to satisfy the needs of Gaza's two million population, only a fraction of that enters the enclave in what it described as a man-made humanitarian deaths are not included in the ministry's war casualty ministry says the death toll from Israeli attacks across Gaza is now nearing 61,000. Their figures do not distinguish between civilian and combatant casualties, but the UN says deaths it has been able to verify indicate that more than two-thirds were women and children. — Euronews
Saudi Gazette
an hour ago
- Saudi Gazette
Leaders condemn videos of emaciated hostages as Red Cross calls for access
JERUSALEM — Western leaders have condemned videos of emaciated Israeli hostages filmed by their captors in Gaza, with the Red Cross calling for access to all remaining in captivity. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said "images of hostages being paraded for propaganda are sickening" and they must be released "unconditionally". The calls come after the Palestinian Islamic Jihad published video of Rom Braslavski, thin and crying, on Thursday, and Hamas released footage of an emaciated Evyatar David on Saturday. Israeli leaders accused Hamas of starving hostages. Hamas's armed wing denied it intentionally starves prisoners, saying hostages eat what their fighters and people eat amid a hunger crisis in Gaza. Reports from Gaza say Palestinians desperately seeking aid near distribution points came under fire from Israeli troops at two different locations on Sunday. At least 27 Palestinians were killed, hospitals in Gaza Israeli hostages Braslavski, 21, and David, 24, were abducted from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023 during the Hamas-led attack on southern are among 49 hostages, out of 251 originally taken, who Israel says are still being held in Gaza. This includes 27 hostages who are believed to be the videos were released, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with the two hostage families, expressing "profound shock" and telling them that efforts to return all the hostages "will continue constantly and relentlessly".On Sunday, Netanyahu spoke to the head of the Red Cross in the region, requesting his immediate involvement in providing food and medical care to International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it was "appalled" by the videos that gave "stark evidence of the life-threatening conditions in which the hostages are being held".The charity reiterated its call to be granted access to the hostages to assess their condition, give them medical support and facilitate contact with their armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades said it would respond positively to any Red Cross request to deliver food and medicine to prisoners if humanitarian corridors were opened into Gaza on a regular and permanent basis, and air strikes halted during the time of receiving Red Cross has faced heavy criticism in Israel over its role in the war, with claims that it has failed to help the hostages being held in this year, amid anger over chaotic scenes as hostages were freed as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas, the organisation explained the limits of its role, saying it relies on the warring parties' goodwill to operate in conflict has also been criticism from Palestinians, as the group has not been allowed to visit Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails since 7 October the weekend in Tel Aviv, crowds of protesters and hostage families gathered once again, calling on the Israeli government to secure the release of and Braslavski's families said at a rally on Saturday that "everyone must get out of hell, now."In one video, Braslavski is seen crying as he says he has run out of food and water and only ate three "crumbs of falafels" that day. He says he is unable to stand or walk, and "is at death's door".Braslavski's family in a statement said "they managed to break Rom" and pleaded to Israeli and US leaders to bring their son home."He has simply been forgotten there," they the second video, David said "I haven't eaten for days... I barely got drinking water" and is seen digging what he says will be his own family said he was being "deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas's tunnels in Gaza - a living skeleton, buried alive".German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was "appalled" by the images, adding the release of all hostages was a mandatory prerequisite for a ceasefire between Israel and President Emmanuel Macron, who said Hamas embodies "abject cruelty", added France continues to work tirelessly towards the release of hostages, to restore a ceasefire, and to enable humanitarian aid to enter said this effort must be accompanied with a political solution, with a two-state solution "with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace". France recently announced its intention to recognise a Palestinian state, along with Canada and the UK, under certain conditions. Israel has strongly condemned the images of emaciated hostages are coming out as UN-backed agencies have said the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out" in Gaza, with malnutrition deaths reported Hamas-run health ministry said on Sunday that 175 people, including 93 children, have died of malnutrition since the start of the UN, aid agencies and some of Israel's allies blame the hunger crisis on Israeli restrictions on the entry and delivery of humanitarian aid. Israel denies the allegation and blames the overwhelming evidence, Israeli authorities, and part of the country's press, strongly reject that there is starvation in Gaza, and say the crisis is a lie fabricated by Hamas and spread by international pictures of emaciated children have been displayed by Israeli protesters calling for a deal with Hamas, but many in Israel seem unaware of the extent of the emergency the war continues, Israel faces growing international isolation, as the widespread destruction in Gaza and the suffering of Palestinians spark around the world suggest that public opinion is increasingly negative about Israel, which is putting pressure on leaders to act. — BBC
Leaders
11 hours ago
- Leaders
When Will Arabs Form Deterrent Force to Protect Themselves?
By: Dr. Atef Al-Shabrawy International Expert in Development and Social Economy In 1966, the classic theorist Thomas Schelling introduced a novel concept at the time: 'deterrence.' After World War II, military strategy shifted away from what was known as 'military victory' and began to rely on the art of coercion, intimidation, and deterrence. Schelling argued that the ability to inflict harm on another state is a threatening factor that influences the behavior of that state, compelling it to refrain from aggressive actions. In response to a question from French television in 1974 about whether Iran planned to acquire nuclear weapons, the Shah of Iran cleverly replied, 'My country has signed a non-proliferation treaty. If we trust the major nuclear powers because they are responsible, we wonder: what would happen if there were a 'frivolous' state in the region seeking to acquire such weapons, and who would it attack?' The Concept of Deterrence This approach was echoed by France in the same year when it announced its possession of what President de Gaulle termed 'nuclear deterrence.' This weapon was developed independently by France to avoid reliance on the United States, allowing it to leave NATO. De Gaulle himself, using similar justifications, provided Israel with nuclear weapons under the pretext of protecting it from the Arab threat. In a jab at President Nasser for supporting the Algerian revolution, French diplomat Stéphane Hessel wrote in his memoirs in 2011: 'Helping Israel acquire nuclear weapons is a mandatory task; we created Israel, and we must protect it from a dangerous Arab world that opposes it.' Nuclear Experiments Researcher Dominique Schnapper noted in her 2021 book 'De Gaulle in the Eyes of the Jews' that between 1960 and 1966, France conducted dozens of nuclear tests, some of which were attended by Israeli experts. Consequently, Israel did not need to conduct its own nuclear tests, as France shared the results of its experiments, effectively granting Israel entry into the nuclear club. Mordechai Vanunu Exposes Israel Despite this, Israel continued to deny possessing nuclear weapons until its project engineer, Mordechai Vanunu, leaked classified information and photographs from the Dimona reactor to the British press in 1986, revealing the 'Israeli nuclear ambiguity' that had persisted for decades. Israeli-Iranian Bombardment During the 12 days of mutual Israeli-Iranian bombardment, it became evident that the struggle for control over the Middle East and its resources involves preventing certain countries from acquiring any deterrent capabilities, monitoring and stifling their attempts, and even destroying them. Iraq was destroyed under the pretext of possessing fictitious weapons of mass destruction, and similar arguments were used against Iran, as if nuclear weapons were the exclusive domain of major powers and their allies. In May 1998, India announced that it had become a nuclear power following secret tests that went undetected by American satellites. Shortly thereafter, its historical rival, Pakistan, declared its entry into the nuclear club, becoming the only Muslim nation to achieve this feat while the major powers were distracted. Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of the Pakistani bomb, conducted tests in the Baluchistan mountains before being arrested for allegedly assisting Iran, Libya, and North Korea in developing nuclear technology. He was forced to make a televised apology but remained under house arrest until his death in 2021. Ballistic Missiles The intense Iranian bombardment of Israel highlighted the fact that nuclear technology is not the only deterrent weapon; ballistic and hypersonic missiles can also serve as strategic deterrents. The world witnessed their use in Iranian attacks on Israeli cities, which caused global panic and compelled major powers to intervene. These missiles effectively deterred and broke the aggressor, and the brief conflict, which aimed to divert attention from the ethnic cleansing in Gaza, appeared to be a test of weapons and technologies in preparation for a larger battle whose participants we do not yet know, but we do know its location. Extreme Democracy With the cessation of bombardment, a new dimension of nuclear and strategic deterrence emerged, particularly for Arab nations in the region. The alarming increase in economic exchanges and investments between regional countries and the West seems to have provided us with no negotiating advantage or satisfaction regarding our positions and orientations. It has not erased the cultural and ideological divisions among us, nor the greed for our resources. There is now a tangible threat from the 'Western democracy' that once brought forth Hitler as a symbol of the extremism produced by the ballot box. Recently, 'democratic' extremist leaders have emerged in the United States, Israel, and most European countries, with increasing possibilities of future leadership that may be even more extreme and violent, potentially unleashing bloodier wars. NATO has decided to raise member contributions to military spending from 2% to 5% of GDP by 2035. Enormous Military Budgets It is worth imagining that the 32 NATO countries do not spend more on defense than they do on healthcare or education. Nevertheless, adopting a 5% contribution means these countries will allocate more to their militaries than to education. These enormous budgets could become a more aggressive and extreme force, potentially turning against any friendly nations. The Future of Arabs The future of Arabs is now at the mercy of existential threats that require us all to form an independent intellectual, scientific, and material force, seeking a 'entity' that achieves the strategic deterrence necessary to prevent future generations from suffering and being destroyed by a new right-wing extremist. I recall the words of Saudi writer Othman Al-Omeir: 'We are heading into the future with the people of the future.' I doubt that the 'people of the future' he referred to will take us along with them, given our weaknesses. It is perhaps better to say: 'We are heading into the future with our strength; for strength secures us a place among the people of the future.' Short link : Post Views: 3
