Trump’s administration envoy in the Middle East pressed on Friday new Lebanese leaders to ensure that Hezbollah does not become part of the Government, because the earth is struggling with fragile trial fire and violence that could impair its pressure on stability.
The deputy envoy of the United States in the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, said at a press conference in Beirut that the United States set up a “clear red line” with the Lebanese government to isolate Hezbollah. Mrs. Ortagus said that Lebanese leaders are dedicated to ensuring that the Iranian militia is supported “is not part of this government in any form.”
Her remarks came after they met Lebanese New President, Joseph Aounwho later appeared to contradict her proposal. In a statement, his office said some comments from Mrs. Ortagus expressed her “personal point of view” without elaborating those.
The Lebanese new leadership is most likely to need to establish a balance with Hezbollah, which has long been the dominant political force in the country, but has been beaten with Israel with a 14-month war. Washington sought to use Hezbollah’s weakened position in recent weeks by pressing Lebanese officials to undermine its political foreign, but the group still has significant power in parliament.
The visit of Mrs. Ortagus, a former spokesman for the State Department, was the first to be a senior American official since Mr Trump took the duty, providing some of the earliest public indications of what the goals of the new American administration in Lebanon look like.
Mr. Aoun was elected president last month, after years of political snack, and determined a New Prime MinisterNawaf Salam, form a government. This is considered a key step to restore stability to Lebanon after years of crisis, but the effort has been slow so far.
In Lebanon, the posts in the cabinet are traditionally divided by sectasy lines in accordance with the decades of the old agreement on the division of power among 18 religious groups. The new government should vote on trust from the Lebanese Parliament of 128 members, where Hezbollah and its allies have a significant number of seats.
Hezbollah’s sequel to Sway would put a new government in a relationship. Lebanon comes out of his most deadly wars in decades and desperately needs foreign financing for renovation, but the Western governments innocently send the help of the Government with the uninformed influence of Hezbollah.
Faced with the political pressure of Hezbollah and the Allies of the Group, Mr. Salam has so far allowed them to choose four of the five Shiite Muslim ministers in their new cabinet – a probable reason for the Washington alarm.
The selection of Mr. Salam, which is considered a reformist, marked the blow to Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim group. Political opponents hoped that the Shiite nomination would be a new government of Mr. Salam-as stated under the Agreement on the Division of the Sectasy forces in the country-to be for people without connections with Hezbollah.
“If there are some operatives of Hezbollah who have been appointed in a key position in the new Government, it will complicate it if it does not destroy any support of the new Trump administration,” said Ed Gabriel, president of the US Working Group on Lebanon, Nonfigent Organization intended such strengthening connections between the United States State and Lebanon.
“It will be a key in works,” he said.
Increased diplomatic pressure comes in sensitive weather for a small Mediterranean nation.
Under the conditions of 60 days cease-fire This ended the war between Israel and Hezbollah in November, the Israeli troops should be withdrawn from Lebanon so far.
But they didn’t do so, and Israeli forces killed two dozen people Last month, according to Lebanese officials, while thousands of people tried to return to their homes near the border when the fire was expired. The Israeli army said he had fired “shooting shots to eliminate threats.”
Since the dedication agreement that has now expanded until February 18, many in Lebanon are now afraid of the prospect of the Israeli occupation of the south of the country. During a press conference on Friday, Mrs. Ortagus said that they were now dedicated to the new time to break the fire and that it would be expected by then that the Israeli troops would be withdrawn.
But with an increase in tension, the Israeli army performed a new series of air strikes overnight, deep in the Lebanese territory. The army announced that she was targeting the Hezbollah military pages and accused the group of breaking the conditions for the fire interruption agreement. Both sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the agreement.
Lebanon’s state news agency reported on attacks in southern and eastern Lebanon, which seemed to be the most intense than the war that ended in November. There were no immediate reports of victims.
The fighting also continued on Friday with the Lebanese-Syrian border, where the cloves broke out the day before between Syrian forces and armed armed attackers in Lebanon. The new Syrian rebel authorities have announced that they are trying to clamp the cross -border smuggled network, according to the Syrian State Novine Agency Sana.
Since President Bashar Al-Assad from Syria was demolished in December, Lebanon was afraid that further instability was spilled on its limits.
