US envoy comes to Beirut with ‘very clear message’
US special envoy Morgan Ortagus has come to Lebanon with a very clear message about what the country should look like going forward.
She said Hezbollah should not have any role in this government as the group has been defeated.
There’s no doubt that Israel’s war weakened it. What Ortagus is trying to say here is that there is a new reality in Lebanon and Hezbollah must not be able to benefit from it politically after losing militarily.
Her message is that the US supports leaders who are committed to fighting corruption and disarming Hezbollah.
Lebanon presidency distances itself from US envoy comments
We reported earlier that US Deputy Special Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus said after a meeting with Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun that the participation of Hezbollah in the incoming Lebanese government is a “red line”.
Now the Lebanese presidency is distancing itself from Ortagus’s remarks.
“Some of what was said by the US deputy special envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus in Baabda [the presidential palace] only represents her own view points, and the presidency is not concerned with it,” Aoun’s office said in a brief statement shared on social media.
Ortagus’s visit to Beirut comes as Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam is scrambling to put together a cabinet that is expected to include most major political parties in Lebanon.
Hezbollah and its top ally the Amal Movement – known as the Shia duo – have dozens of members in the 128-seat Lebanese Parliament.
Hezbollah responds to Trump’s envoy
Mohammad Raad, the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, has rebuked Ortagus for her call to exclude the group from the Lebanese government.
Raad said in a video message that the US deputy Middle East envoy’s remarks “are full of hatred and irresponsibility”.
“They aim to insult a national component of Lebanon that is part of the National Accord and Lebanese political life,” he added. “Her statements are a blatant interference in Lebanon’s sovereignty and a violation to all diplomatic norms and obligations of international relations.”
Ortagus had also congratulated Israel for defeating Hezbollah. But Raad rejected her assertion, saying that the Lebanese people were “victorious”, and they revealed the “ugly image of the aggressor that is carrying out a genocide against civilians"
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