Has Barrack's visit to Lebanon opened the 'window of diplomacy'?
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack's visit to Lebanon opened the 'window of diplomacy,' after a tense atmosphere that preceded his arrival in Beirut to receive the official Lebanese response to a three-point U.S. paper that most importantly contained a path leading to Hezbollah's disarmament, a media report said.
Barrack, who lauded Lebanon's response as highly satisfactory, will 'carefully study the Lebanese response and send his remarks within days through the U.S. Embassy in Beirut,' official Lebanese sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.
'He will return to Beirut within two weeks should things go as planned,' the sources added.
Asharq al-Awsat noted that Lebanon's official response was prepared by President Joseph Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and PM Nawaf Salam, without containing 'Hezbollah's stance.'
Berri, however, later presented to Barrack separate remarks on behalf of the Shiite Duo (Hezbollah and Berri's Amal Movement), the daily said, with source close to the Speaker telling the newspaper that he 'stressed the need to consolidate the ceasefire and ensure Israel's commitment to it before anything else.'
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