\n<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Barrack\u2019s comments come a day after Hezbollah\u2019s leader, Naim Qassem, once again rejected the Lebanese government\u2019s attempts for the group to disarm, which was one of the key parts of the November ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.<\/p>\n
list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe will never abandon our weapons, nor will we relinquish them,\u201d Naim said on Saturday, adding that Hezbollah would continue to \u201cconfront any project that serves Israel\u201d. Hezbollah maintains that the disarmament plan approved by the Lebanese government only serves Israel\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s strikes on Lebanon had crippled Hezbollah\u2019s military capability and killed more than 4,000 people.<\/p>\n Though weakened by the war, Hezbollah remains a major political force representing the Shia community, and its allies hold seats in the parliament.<\/p>\n In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera Arabic, Barrack said that Hezbollah is \u201ca legitimate political party in Lebanon\u201d, adding that its legitimacy within the confessional power-sharing system, where political position is divided among sects, complicates ending the ongoing conflict with Israel.<\/p>\n The US envoy described Hezbollah, which the US classifies as a foreign \u201cterrorist\u201d organisation, as \u201can essential part of the Lebanese political system\u201d.<\/p>\n This constitutes \u201ca complex problem for Lebanese political leaders\u201d, who agreed to the objectives of a US-backed plan for Hezbollah to hand in their arsenal.<\/p>\n Lebanon\u2019s cabinet\u00a0approved the plan on August 7, despite Hezbollah\u2019s outright refusal to disarm, raising fears that Israel could intensify attacks on Lebanon.<\/p>\n Israel continues to occupy Lebanese territory and has carried out near-daily attacks in southern Lebanon\u00a0since the November ceasefire agreement.<\/p>\n Lebanon\u2019s state-run National News Agency on Sunday reported \u201ca series\u201d of Israeli air strikes near the towns of Kfar Rumman and Jarmak, and a drone strike on a home in Humin, all in the country\u2019s south.<\/p>\n Barrack, the US envoy, said the US was ready to help Lebanon \u201cresolve the conflict\u201d, but that it was \u201cnot our responsibility\u201d. \u201cWe don\u2019t pressure anyone, and we won\u2019t dictate what Lebanon should do, nor will Israel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs for Lebanon, we said this is your internal problem. If you want a unified army and a real state, you have to disarm the parties and groups that don\u2019t comply.\u201d<\/p>\n The envoy said the simmering conflict with Israel would continue \u201cas long as Israel feels that Hezbollah is hostile, rebuilding and rearming\u201d.<\/p>\n Barrack said that US President Donald Trump was \u201ceager\u201d to end the war in Gaza, and was looking for \u201cthe right answer\u201d that would deliver that result.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that the president, after listening to the Arab leaders, realised the importance of moving forward and getting it done quickly,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n The envoy also welcomed Syria\u2019s first appearance at the United Nations General Assembly in nearly 60 years, after the ousting of former President Bashar al-Assad paved the way for the country\u2019s readmission.<\/p>\n Syria\u2019s interim president,\u00a0Ahmed al-Sharaa, has taken several steps in the months since al-Assad\u2019s removal in January, including establishing new institutions, planning to hold elections and encouraging foreign investment.<\/p>\n The US removed the Syrian armed group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which al-Sharaa headed, from its list of \u201cforeign terrorist organisations\u201d in July, reflecting a shift in policy towards post-Assad Syria.<\/p>\n Barrack said that Trump had chosen to \u201cgive them a chance\u201d and welcomed al-Sharaa\u2019s efforts to solve lingering conflicts in the southern and northeastern parts of the country.<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes time, but they\u2019re doing everything they can do,\u201d the envoy said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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\u2019s comments come a day after Hezbollah\u2019s leader, Naim Qassem, once again rejected the Lebanese government\u2019s attempts for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[267,9614,8680,1758,8677,14886,150,2651,1913],"class_list":{"0":"post-24534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-conflict","9":"tag-envoy","10":"tag-hezbollah","11":"tag-israelpalestine","12":"tag-lebanon","13":"tag-legitimate","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-party","16":"tag-political"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Near-daily Israeli attacks<\/h2>\n
US looking at future of Syria, Gaza<\/h2>\n