U.S. 'unbelievably satisfied' with Lebanon reply to proposal on disarming Hezbollah
By Maya Gebeily
A U.S. envoy said on Monday he was "unbelievably satisfied" with Lebanon's reply to a U.S. proposal on disarming Hezbollah, following meetings in Beirut held hours after Israel launched new air strikes and a cross-border incursion.
Envoy Thomas Barrack's proposal, delivered to Lebanese officials during his last visit on June 19, would see Hezbollah fully disarmed within four months in exchange for Israel halting air strikes and withdrawing troops from posts in south Lebanon they still occupy following a war last year.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Lebanon's president on Monday, Barrack said he had received a seven-page reply, although he gave no details of its contents.
"What the government gave us was something spectacular in a very short period of time," Barrack said. "I'm unbelievably satisfied with the response."
Barrack, a longtime adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump who also serves as U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria, said he believed "the Israelis do not want war with Lebanon".
"Both countries are trying to give the same thing - the notion of a stand-down agreement, of the cessation of hostilities, and a road to peace," he said.
Israel crushed the leadership of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in a bombing campaign last year, one of many fronts on which it has inflicted severe blows against Iran and its allies since the start of the war in Gaza in 2023.
Hezbollah has already relinquished some weapons and withdrawn from southern areas under a ceasefire agreed last year. Israel has kept troops at five posts in southern Lebanon and continued targeting Hezbollah fighters with air strikes, saying it wants the group to pose no threat to Israel.
An Israeli official, who asked not to be named, said Israel would only withdraw once Hezbollah completely disarmed - and that Israel would keep reinforcing the posts as long as it saw Hezbollah trying to rebuild its forces in south Lebanon.
Hezbollah has not publicly responded to the U.S. disarmament proposal, but its leader said on Sunday the group needed to keep some weapons to defend Lebanon from Israel. Sources have told Reuters that the group is considering shrinking its arsenal, without disarming in full.
Barrack also met with Lebanon's prime minister and its parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, who is an ally of Hezbollah.
Berri's office released a statement saying the meeting was "good and constructive, taking into account Lebanon's interests and sovereignty, the concerns of all Lebanese, and the demands of Hezbollah".
In the hours before Barrack's visit, Israel carried out a wave of air strikes on Lebanon's south and east as well as a cross-border ground assault on a Lebanese border village. The Israeli escalation was seen by Lebanese officials and diplomats as an attempt to ratchet up pressure on Hezbollah.
Western countries have long said changes in the region could provide a chance for Lebanon to strengthen state institutions that have remained weak for decades in the shadow of powerful sectarian groups.
Barrack said Hezbollah needed reassurance that it would still have a future in Lebanon as a major political party.
Regional changes provided an opportunity for Lebanon, he said, noting that Syria's new government, which took power last year after the fall of Iranian ally Bashar al-Assad, was now opening dialogue with Israel.
"The dialogue has started between Syria and Israel, just as the dialogue needs to be reinvented by Lebanon," he said. "If you don't want change, it's no problem. The rest of the region is moving at Mach speed and you will be left behind."
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Mainichi
16 minutes ago
- The Mainichi
BBC Gaza documentary narrated by Hamas official's son breached editorial guidelines, review says
LONDON (AP) -- Britain's media regulator said Monday it will investigate a BBC documentary about children's lives in Gaza, after a review concluded that the narrator's father has Hamas links and the program therefore breached editorial guidelines on accuracy. The broadcaster removed the program, "Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone," from its streaming service in February after it emerged that the 13-year-old narrator, Abdullah, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture. Ofcom, the media regulator, said that it was launching an investigation under rules that state factual programs must not materially mislead the audience. That came after a review by the broadcaster found that the independent production company that made the program didn't share the background information regarding the narrator's father with the BBC. It said that the production company, Hoyo Films, bears most responsibility for the failure, though it didn't "intentionally" mislead the BBC. The review, conducted by the corporation's director of editorial complaints, found no other breaches of editorial guidelines, including impartiality. There was no evidence of "outside interests" impacting on the program, it said. Earlier this year, U.K. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy questioned why no one at the BBC had lost their job over the program's airing. The broadcaster's Director-General Tim Davie had told lawmakers that the BBC received hundreds of complaints alleging that the documentary was biased against Israel -- as well as hundreds more criticizing the program's removal from its streaming service. Directors Ken Loach and Mike Leigh and actor Riz Ahmed were among 500 media figures who signed a letter published by Artists for Palestine UK saying a "political" campaign to discredit the program risked dehumanizing Palestinian voices in the media. Davie said that the report identified "a significant failing" in relation to accuracy in the documentary. Hoyo Films apologized for the mistake. Both firms said they would prevent similar errors in the future. Separately, more than 100 BBC journalists wrote a letter to Davie earlier this month criticizing its decision not to air another documentary, "Gaza: Medics Under Fire." They expressed concerns that the broadcaster wasn't reporting "'without fear or favor' when it comes to Israel." The decision suggested that the BBC was an "organization that is crippled by the fear of being perceived as critical of the Israeli government," that letter said. The BBC has been under intense scrutiny for its coverage touching on the war in Gaza. Last month, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and others condemned the broadcaster for livestreaming a performance by rap punk duo Bob Vylan, who led crowds at Glastonbury Festival in chanting "death" to the Israeli military. The Israel-Hamas war started after the militant group led an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Most of the hostages have been released in earlier ceasefires. Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, under Gaza's Hamas-run government, doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The U.N. and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.
Japan Today
2 hours ago
- Japan Today
China steps in as U.S. pulls back from diplomacy, report says
The U.S. and Chinese flags are seen on the day of a bilateral meeting between the U.S. and China, in Geneva, Switzerland, May 11, 2025. KEYSTONE/EDA/Martial Trezzini/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY By Patricia Zengerle China is increasing its diplomatic reach as President Donald Trump's administration pares back America's international presence, Democrats from the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said in a report released on Monday. The report, the result of months of staff travel and research, was released as the Trump administration makes deep cuts to the State Department, including beginning on Friday to fire more than 1,350 U.S.-based employees, part of a total reduction of nearly 3,000 people for the U.S.-based workforce. The administration has also cut billions of dollars in foreign aid, effectively shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development, leading to the firing of thousands of its employees and contractors. Critics said the cuts would undermine Washington's ability to defend and promote U.S. interests abroad. Research published in The Lancet medical journal said the cuts to USAID and its dismantling could result in more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030. The Trump administration says its changes help align foreign policy with Trump's "America First" agenda, and are part of a push to shrink the federal bureaucracy and cut what Trump officials say has been wasteful spending. The Democrats' 91-page report listed ways, from broadcasting to health programs and development efforts, that committee researchers said China is expanding its influence. "China is pursuing a clear vision for the international order while the Trump Administration seeks to diminish America's engagement globally," the report said. It lists dozens of cases in which the committee researchers found that China had stepped in as the U.S. eliminated or cut back international programs, from funding vaccines and providing food to infrastructure development. For example, in Africa, as the U.S. terminated food assistance programs, China in March donated $2 million in rice to Uganda. In May, after the U.S. terminated a $37 million HIV/AIDS grant in Zambia, China said it would help the African nation fight HIV/AIDS, including by donating 500,000 rapid HIV testing kits and planning more meetings to discuss its continued partnership on the issue. In Southeast Asia, Chinese President Xi Jinping embarked on a tour to meet with leaders in Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia, the report said. The trip yielded an agreement in Vietnam for railroad connections, 37 cooperation agreements in Cambodia in sectors including energy, education and infrastructure and technical and manufacturing exchanges in Malaysia. And in Latin America, China in May hosted the "China-Latin American and the Caribbean Forum" and announced it would provide a $9 billion credit line and additional infrastructure investments for the region. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Japan Today
2 hours ago
- Japan Today
EU threatens countermeasures over U.S. tariffs; Trump says he is open to talks
A U.S. flag flutters in front of shipping containers at the Port of Long Beach in Long Beach, California, U.S., July 11, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole By Philip Blenkinsop and David Lawder The European Union on Monday accused the U.S. of resisting efforts to strike a trade deal and warned of countermeasures if no agreement is reached to avoid the punishing tariffs President Donald Trump has threatened to impose starting on August 1. Trump, meanwhile, said he was open to further discussions with the EU and other trading partners before new 30% tariffs kick in next month and that EU officials would be coming to the United States for negotiations. "They would like to do a different kind of a deal and we're always open to talk, including to Europe," he told reporters in the Oval Office. "In fact, they're coming over. They'd like to talk." Trump stepped up his trade war on Saturday, saying he would impose a 30% tariff on most imports from the EU and Mexico next month, following similar warnings for other countries including Asian economic powerhouses Japan and South Korea. The EU has so far held off on retaliatory measures to avoid a spiraling tit-for-tat escalation while there remains a chance of negotiating an improved outcome. But EU ministers emerging from a meeting in Brussels on Monday appeared closer to striking back. Speaking at a news conference following the meeting, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen called the tariff threat "absolutely unacceptable." EU Trade Chief Maros Sefcovic said he believed there was "still a potential to continue the negotiations" but voiced frustration with Washington's failure to agree to a deal with its largest trading partner. "As I said before, it takes two hands to clap," he said, adding that EU member states agreed that the 27-nation bloc would need to take countermeasures if the trade negotiations with the U.S. fail. Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani earlier said the EU had already prepared a list of tariffs worth 21 billion euros ($24.5 billion) on U.S. goods if the two sides fail to reach a deal. Meanwhile, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that she believed the two sides would reach a deal on security ahead of the August 1 deadline. The White House has clarified that the 30% tariffs on Mexico, which Trump has blamed for not doing more to stem the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., would not apply to goods shipped under the USMCA trade agreement, which covers the vast majority of goods shipped from Mexico to the U.S. Sheinbaum said any agreement would not involve U.S. forces entering Mexican territory, as previously floated by Trump. EUROPEAN STOCKS DIP White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said trade talks were still under way with the European Union, Canada and Mexico. Canada is facing a tariff of 35% starting in August. The threatened duties have sounded alarm bells in Europe, notably in Germany, the EU's biggest economy. After Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday that a 30% tariff would "hit the German export industry to the core", the head of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry called for swift action. "The escalating tariff conflict with the USA poses a serious threat to many German companies," Volker Treier said on Monday. "Tough negotiations are now needed to avert a collapse of transatlantic trade." European industries, meanwhile, are preparing for the worst. Producers of Italy's renowned Chianti wine in Tuscany, for example, have demanded a new export strategy backed by the EU targeting alternative markets such as South America, Asia and Africa. Since returning to the White House earlier this year, Trump has sought to use an array of tariffs to boost the U.S. economy, push companies to invest in the United States and revitalize manufacturing. His initial "Liberation Day" tariff announcement in April, which set a baseline tariff of 10% on all imports and higher duties on certain products or countries, raised fears of global supply chain disruptions, sending shockwaves through markets. But subsequent U-turns and delays, including a 90-day pause on most duties aimed at allowing time for trade deal negotiations, have left investors largely inured to Trump's chaotic policy rollouts. European stocks fell on Monday, while U.S. indices were little changed in response to the latest salvo. European autos and alcohol stocks were among those hardest hit. SCRAMBLE FOR DEALS The looming August 1 deadline has set off a scramble by governments around the world to seal trade agreements. South Korea's top trade envoy said on Monday it may be possible to strike a deal "in principle" by the deadline and signaled that Seoul may be open to allowing the U.S. greater access to its agriculture markets, local media reported. Minister for Trade Yeo Han-koo, who held high-level talks with U.S. officials last week, said South Korea was seeking to avoid "unfair" U.S. tariffs on key sectors that would undermine industrial cooperation with its main security ally and trading partner, media reports said. "I believe it's possible to reach an agreement in principle in the U.S. tariff negotiations, and then take some time to negotiate further," the Newsis news agency quoted Yeo as telling local media reporters. "Twenty days are not enough to come up with a perfect treaty that contains every detail," he added. South Korea is in a race to reach a compromise trade pact in the hope of avoiding a 25% tariff slapped on its exports, the same level faced by Japan. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
