US Seeks Support for New Lebanese President, Aims to Sideline Hezbollah
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Amid calls from Israel’s President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the people of Lebanon to rise up against Hezbollah, the United States is seeking regional support for the election of a new Lebanese president, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
Iran-backed Hezbollah has a political wing that is represented in Lebanon’s parliament, as well as a paramilitary wing it has used to fire thousands of missiles at northern Israeli towns in support of Hamas in Gaza. In an effort to stop the missile attacks and return some 80,000 evacuated Israelis to their homes, Israel has launched a bombing campaign against Hezbollah targets that have caused the displacement of some one million Lebanese, with many casualties.
The Biden administration reportedly aims to break Hezbollah’s hold on the country and shift the balance of power toward a democratic, non-terrorist model of government.
According to the WSJ, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US envoy to the Middle East Amos Hochstein have called leaders in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Qatar, seeking their support for new leadership in Lebanon. The chronically unstable country has been without non-terrorist leadership since President Michel Aoun’s term in 2022.
Concerning the US initiative, the Israel Hayom (Today) news outlet noted: “The American effort faces significant challenges, and fears of a new conflict between Lebanon’s factions have drawn criticism from Egypt and Qatar, arguing that Hezbollah must be an integral part of any future political settlement in Lebanon.”
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