Hezbollah a ‘legitimate political party’ within Lebanon, US envoy says
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In an exclusive interview, Tom Barrack says Hezbollah’s legitimacy within Lebanon’s political system makes solving conflict with Israel difficult.
By Al Jazeera
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Convincing Hezbollah to give up its weapons is the job of the Lebanese government, and the United States is not interested in pressuring anybody, the US special envoy for Syrian affairs, Tom Barrack, has told Al Jazeera.
Barrack’s comments come a day after Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, once again rejected the Lebanese government’s attempts for the group to disarm, which was one of the key parts of the November ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
“We will never abandon our weapons, nor will we relinquish them,” Naim said on Saturday, adding that Hezbollah would continue to “confront any project that serves Israel”. Hezbollah maintains that the disarmament plan approved by the Lebanese government only serves Israel’s interests.
The US and its closest regional ally, Israel, have been seeking the complete disarmament of Hezbollah, which started firing rockets at Israel a day after Israel launched its war on Gaza on October 7, 2023. By the time a ceasefire was agreed to on November 27, Israel’s strikes on Lebanon had crippled Hezbollah’s military capability and killed more than 4,000 people.
Though weakened by the war, Hezbollah remains a major political force representing the Shia community, and its allies hold seats in the parliament.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera Arabic, Barrack said that Hezbollah is “a legitimate political party in Lebanon”, adding that its legitimacy within the confessional power-sharing system, where political position is divided among sects, complicates ending the ongoing conflict with Israel.
The US envoy described Hezbollah, which the US classifies as a foreign “terrorist” organisation, as “an essential part of the Lebanese political system”.
This constitutes “a complex problem for Lebanese political leaders”, who agreed to the objectives of a US-b