The United States is ramping up pressure on Lebanon to issue a formal Cabinet decision mandating the disarmament of Hezbollah as a prerequisite for resuming negotiations aimed at halting Israeli military operations in Lebanon, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing informed sources.
According to two Lebanese officials, two diplomats and a well-informed Lebanese source, Washington made it clear that without a public commitment from Lebanese ministers on Hezbollah’s disarmament, it will neither dispatch US envoy Tom Barrack to Beirut nor pressure Israel to halt airstrikes or withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon.
The sources also revealed that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri appealed to the US to secure a halt to Israeli strikes as a preliminary step toward implementing the ceasefire agreement reached last year, which ended prolonged hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. However, they added, Israel rejected Berri’s proposal.
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