US offers support to Lebanon army to enforce plan to disarm Hezbollah

The US officials, in a meeting with Lebanon's President Aoun, expressed readiness to help the war-battered country stabilise security in the south, where Israel has been regularly carrying out strikes

By Sherif Tarek

 

The US is ready to back Lebanon’s army to help implement a plan to disarm militant groups, which was announced in August but has yet to make tangible progress amid a spat with the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah. 

The US officials, in a meeting with Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, expressed readiness to help the war-battered country stabilise security in the south, where Israel has been regularly carrying out strikes on targets belonging to Hezbollah, according to the Lebanese state-run news agency NNA.

 

The support would aim to end armed activities and enable authorities to control the entirety of the Lebanese territories, the report said, without specifying the kind of backing the US could offer. Aoun received a Treasury Department delegation headed by Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the US president, at the presidential residence on the outskirts of Beirut. 

 

 

Aoun, who was named president in January after a ceasefire agreement ended a two-month war between Israel and Hezbollah in late 2024, reiterated the importance of pressuring Israel to halt its “continuous assaults” on Lebanon. 

 

Last week, the Jewish state launched some of its heaviest airstrikes on Lebanon since the US- and French-backed truce came to effect, fueling concerns that the conflict could be reignited. The Israeli army ascribes its post-ceasefire attacks on Lebanon to Hezbollah’s attempts to rebuild its military capabilities, which were greatly degraded during last year’s war.

 

Israel must adhere to the peace deal in order for Lebanese military troops to be deployed near the southern borders and implement the US-backed disarmament plan, said Aoun. He commissioned the army in the summer to set out a plan to keep all weapons in Lebanon under state control by year’s end.

 

Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey and an envoy for Lebanon, said the Lebanese government was struggling to seize Hezbollah’s weapons. The group has refused to hand over its arms, citing Israeli “aggression.”

 

The precarious situation in Lebanon threatens an already-shaky ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, another proxy of Iran and an ally of Hezbollah. 

 

The truce in Gaza is part of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war that erupted in the coastal enclave over two years ago, and led to another between Israel and Hezbollah, which stepped in to support Palestinians.