Top Iranian Official Visits Lebanon as Hezbollah Bucks Calls to Disarm
Ali Larijani, the head of Iran's top security body, was the most senior Iranian official to visit Beirut since the Lebanese government last week endorsed a U.S.-backed road map to disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year. Hezbollah has rejected the plan, which followed weeks of shuttle diplomacy by Washington aimed at implementing a cease-fire deal signed last year with Israel that ended Lebanon's deadliest conflict in decades.
Hezbollah's arsenal has long underpinned both its self-declared role as Lebanon's defender against Israel and its political prowess at home. But after emerging from the war severely weakened, the group's future is now in question.
In recent months, Lebanon's new government has faced mounting pressure from the United States and Gulf states to complete the group's disarmament, a key step mandated by the cease-fire agreement reached in November. Neutralizing Hezbollah as a fighting force is seen as essential to unlocking billions in foreign aid needed to rebuild a country ravaged by war and economic crisis.
For Lebanon, it is delicate balancing act with the highest of stakes.
After months of trading cross-border fire with Hezbollah, Israel invaded last October and its forces still hold a handful of positions in Lebanon and carry out near daily strikes there. Lebanese officials and Western diplomats say that if the government delays in disarming Hezbollah, Israel could escalate its military campaign. Yet any move by Lebanon to dismantle the group's arsenal without parallel concessions from Israel risks inflaming sectarian tensions and triggering civil unrest.
During the visit by Mr. Larijani on Wednesday, President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon said that no group in Lebanon was permitted to bear arms or depend on foreign backing — a thinly veiled reference to Iran's longstanding support for Hezbollah.
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