Israel has significantly escalated its attacks on Lebanon in recent days, killing nearly 30 people in the past month alone
News Desk - The Cradle
Barrack is due to arrive in the country on Wednesday for talks with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
According to informed sources cited by Al-Akhbar, Barrack is warning that this is his “last visit to Lebanon.”
“I will inform the president, the prime minister, and the speaker of parliament that they have one last chance,” Barrack reportedly added, according to the sources.
“Either they learn their lesson and decide to enter into direct negotiations with Israel under US auspices, to establish a timetable and mechanism for disarming Hezbollah, or Lebanon will be left to its fate, and will remain so for a long time, with no one to care about it, neither in America nor in the region, and no one will be able to pressure Israel to prevent it from doing whatever it deems appropriate to undertake disarmament by force.”
The report came as US envoy Morgan Ortagus arrived in Lebanon on Tuesday ahead of Barrack’s visit this week.
Ortagus had been the face of Washington’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah since February this year, until she was joined by Barrack – who serves as the US ambassador to Turkiye and envoy for Syria.
Parliament Speaker Berri met Ortagus in Beirut on 28 October.
Lebanese news outlet MTV reported that Ortagus told Berri that Lebanon has the choice of entering “direct talks” with Israel or continuing coordination via the existing ceasefire mechanism.
The mechanism consists of UNIFIL, France, the US, Lebanon, and Israel. All Lebanese–Israeli dealings via the mechanism have been indirect. Despite being tasked with overseeing ceasefire violations, the mechanism has failed to prevent Israel’s constant attacks on Lebanon.
Washington is essentially calling on Lebanon to violate its own laws, which prohibit direct engagement with Israel.
Al-Akhbar says Beirut is being “nudged towards … normalization under pressure,” as part of the “same model” being pushed in Syria.
Israeli attacks on Lebanon, which have been ongoing since the ceasefire, have escalated in recent days.
At least 27 people have been killed since the start of October, including civilians and top Hezbollah commanders.
Israel is prohibited from attacking Hezbollah members during the ceasefire, according to international law.
However, it claims it is legitimately enforcing the agreement by preventing the Lebanese resistance movement from rebuilding itself.
Several Israeli media reports from over the past week have said that Hezbollah has managed to rearm itself despite Lebanon’s disarmament efforts.
The Lebanese state has destroyed or confiscated scores of weapons caches this year as part of its commitments in the ceasefire agreement. According to western intelligence officials who spoke with the Jerusalem Post, Hezbollah is “rebuilding faster than the Lebanese army is dismantling.”
“But the organization is restrengthening, producing precision missiles and combat facilities – all under direct Iranian patronage,” said Jacques Neriah, former head of the Syria and Lebanon branch in Israel’s Intelligence Directorate and senior researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Foreign Policy and Security.
Last week, Barrack publicly threatened that Lebanon must disarm Hezbollah or face a new Israeli war.
Days later, European sources cited by Sky News Arabia said a large-scale Israeli military operation in Lebanon is “just a matter of time.”
Egypt’s intelligence chief recently warned Lebanese officials that Israel would soon escalate if the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons is not solved, according to Israel’s Carmel news outlet.
“We bring no messages of threat or warning to Lebanon, only a message of caution about what could happen in the future,” Egypt’s ambassador to Lebanon said after the report.
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