US envoy says ‘satisfied’ with Lebanon’s response to roadmap focused on Hezbollah’s arms

US envoy Tom Barrack said on Monday that he was “satisfied” with Lebanon’s response to his roadmap that is focused on disarming Iran-backed Hezbollah.

“I’m unbelievably satisfied with the response,” Barrack, Washington’s ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, told a press conference after meeting President Joseph Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda.

“It’s thoughtful, it’s considered. We’re creating a go-forward plan. To create that, we need dialogue. What the government gave us was something spectacular in a very short period of time,” he said.

“Now what it takes is a... thrust to the details, which we’re going to do. We’re both committed to get to the details and get a resolution," he said, adding: “I’m very, very hopeful."

The presidency said on X that Aoun handed Barrack “ideas for a comprehensive solution.”

The US envoy also added that his meeting with Aoun was an “amazingly” and a “satisfactory” one. However, he called on Lebanon to seize the current opportunity that is presented to the country, adding that the US supports Lebanon if the country has the will to change.

“Hezbollah is a political party. It also has a militant aspect to it. Hezbollah needs to see that there’s a future for them, that that road is not harnessed just solely against them, and that there’s an intersection of peace and prosperity for them also,” Barrack said.

He warned that “the rest of the region is moving at Mach speed, and you will be left behind,” noting that “dialogue has started between Syria and Israel, just as the dialogue needs to be reinvented by Lebanon.”
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Barrack last month had shared a written roadmap with Lebanese officials and told them he expected to hear back on any proposed amendments.

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The document centers on the disarmament of Hezbollah and other militant groups, and urges Lebanon to improve ties with neighboring Syria and implement financial reforms.

It proposes a phased approach to disarmament, in which Hezbollah would hand in its arms throughout Lebanon in exchange for the withdrawal of Israeli troops occupying areas in south Lebanon, sources had told Reuters.

The full disarmament should be completed by November or by the end of the year at the latest, Barrack is reported to have said.

A Lebanese official told AFP that late last week, Beirut submitted an initial response to Washington, which then requested modifications.
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Lebanese officials then worked through the weekend to develop the final version, the source added, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the media.

Barrack also met with parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who is also a Hezbollah ally.

After the meeting, a statement posted on the speaker’s pro-media X account said that talks with Barrack were “good and constructive” and that took into consideration Lebanon’s interests and sovereignty as well as “Hezbollah’s demands.”

A day before the US envoy was due to meet Aoun, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said that his group would not surrender or lay down its weapons in response to Israeli threats.

“This threat will not make us accept surrender,” Qassem said in a televised speech on Sunday.

Israel on Sunday conducted an intense range of strikes across different locations in Lebanon in what appeared to be a response to Qassem’s speech.

Israel’s military has continued to occupy positions in Lebanon and to strike the country despite the ceasefire, saying it is targeting Hezbollah sites and operatives and accusing Beirut of not doing enough to disarm the group.

Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back north of the Litani river, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli frontier.

Israel was to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, but has kept them deployed in five areas that it deemed strategic.

Lebanese authorities say they have been dismantling Hezbollah’s military infrastructure in the south near the Israeli border.

With agencies

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