US official urges Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah if it expects any financial help
Tom Harb Director of the American Middle East Alliance
The Director of the American Middle East Alliance, Tom Harb, said that the US 'Congress is sending a message to Lebanon : 'Disarm the militias within 6 months if you expects any US financial aid.'
In an interview with Al-Jadeed TV, he pointed out that 'there is an American point of view that requires Israel to remain in 5 points in southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed and the state and army exercise their role,' explaining that 'Lebanon must set a time limit in the ministerial statement for reform and dealing with the party to obtain aid.'
Harb who was born and raised in Lebanon was the CO-Chair for the American Middle East Coalition for Trump during 2016 election. AMCT is a coalition of Middle eastern organizations and affiliates who believed in Trump's agenda. He played an educational role among the Middle eastern communities in United States and through Middle East media. On March 14, 2005, a month after PM Rafik Hariri's assassination , over a million Lebanese headed to downtown Beirut to demand the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon after a nearly 29-year of military presence. The mass rally was later dubbed the Cedar Revolution or Independence Uprising. The Iranian backed Hezbollah militant group whose operatives were convicted in Hariri's assassination has replaced the Syrian occupational forces . The majority of the Lebanese now consider Hezbollah an Iranian occupational force
Also, Tom Harb is the President of the World Council of the Cedars Revolution WCCR – USA Chapter, an NGO representing Lebanese activists worldwide. The WCCR was established in 2005, after the people of Lebanon rallied in demand for freedom and independence. It is now considered the most unwavering union in representing the hope and aspirations of millions of Lebanese and the Diaspora.
The majority of the Lebanese people consider Hezbollah's war with Israel as an attempt to increase Iran's influence in Lebanon.
Hezbollah is a proxy of the Quds Force , the foreign arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard , IRGC
Hezbollah's top leaders were all killed in the war and its current leader Naim Qassem fled to Tehran Iran last October for fear of being assassinated like his predecessors
Many in Lebanon have been saying that the Shiites of Lebanon, an essential and proud segment of the population deserve better leadership—leaders who put Lebanon first and work toward rebuilding the tens of thousands of Shiite homes destroyed by war. Many have been quoted as saying 'No nation should be led by a group that operates more like a 'terrorist organization' for foreign interests than a true defender of its people.
Many say is time for the Shiites of Lebanon to rise against Hezbollah's stranglehold and produce leaders who embrace Lebanon as their homeland, not as a mere outpost for Iranian influence.
Hezbollah's former top leader Hassan Nasrallah who was assassinated last September pledged allegiance to Iran and its Supreme leader
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