US sees a window for a new push to break political deadlock in Lebanon to ease conflict

WASHINGTON — With Israel’s sabotage and military operations in Lebanon eliminating many of Hezbollah’s senior leadersSome in Washington and elsewhere believe there may be an opportunity for new momentum to break the political deadlock in Lebanon and try to ease the escalating war.

To that end, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken with his Saudi, Qatari and French counterparts about how a resolution – specifically the election of a new Lebanese president – ​​could tensions in the Middle East by getting Hezbollah to move its troops from Israel’s northern border to the established line a resolution of the UN Security Council ending the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

“It is clear that the people of Lebanon have an interest, a strong interest, in seeing the state assert itself and take responsibility for the country and its future,” Blinken told reporters in Laos on Friday. “The presidency has been vacant for two years now. and for the Lebanese people, having a head of state would be very important.”

He said Lebanon’s future is for the people to decide and no one else, including “any external actor, be it the United States, Israel or one of the many actors in the region.”

The US and others have been pushing for an end to this crisis for years the political impasse in Lebanon to no avail. The country’s sectarian power-sharing system has always been prone to gridlock. The US blames the two-year presidential vacuum on resistance to compromise by the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which is considered a legitimate political party in Lebanon and has been part of the government for almost two decades despite being US has been labeled a terrorist organization. USA, Israel and others.

After the term of former Chairman Michel Aoun Lebanon’s deeply divided parliament, which ended in October 2022, met several times to elect a successor but failed each time. Hezbollah is backing Sleiman Frangieh, a Christian politician with ties to the Shiite group, for the position.

The opposing party has put forward a series of names, but the man widely seen as Frangieh’s main rival – even though he has not officially declared his candidacy – is the Lebanese army commander, General Joseph Aoun, who is generally seen as someone close to the US.

Meanwhile, worsening political paralysis and stalled measures to alleviate the crisis have increased crippling economic crisis have plunged three-quarters of the population into poverty.

But now US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the Biden administration’s current thinking, said there may be a window for movement in the wake of the militant group’s recent demotion by Israel.

That view is not universally shared in Washington, with some officials arguing that Hezbollah is too entrenched in Lebanon’s political scene, military and civil and social services to eradicate its influence. Still, even the skeptics are willing to give it a try, officials said.

Blinken said this in Laos on Friday that he has been involved in numerous conversations about the situation. And he is expected to attend an international conference on Lebanon hosted by France later this month, U.S. officials said.

“What I get from these conversations is a strong desire, not only on the part of the many countries concerned about Lebanon, but especially on the part of the Lebanese themselves to see the state actually stand up, stand up for itself and take responsibility to see it take the lives of its citizens,” he said.

Blinken spoke earlier this week with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed Al Thani, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot about the issue.

With his Saudi and Qatari counterparts, “Blinken discussed the importance of implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1701 in Lebanon to allow citizens on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border to return to their homes,” it said Ministry of Foreign Affairs in almost identical statements.

The UN resolution, whose terms were never fully implemented, called on Israeli forces to fully withdraw from southern Lebanon after a month-long war with Hezbollah in 2006, while the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers continued to exclusive armed presence in the area.

With his French counterpart, Blinken discussed “the evolving situation in the Middle East and the importance of coordinating efforts toward a diplomatic resolution that would allow citizens of Israel and Lebanon to return to their homes,” the department said .

And along with his Egyptian counterpart, Blinken noted “the United States’ continued support for Lebanese state institutions, including the Lebanese Armed Forces” and reiterated the need for full implementation of the Security Council resolution.

Ed Gabriel, president of the American Task Force on Lebanon, a nonprofit organization that aims to build stronger ties between the U.S. and Lebanon, said the group has high regard for Aoun, the Lebanese army commander, and “his leadership of the only fully functioning institution in Lebanon. .”

“We do not believe it is in Lebanon’s interest for external parties to interfere with the country’s sovereign right to elect its own president,” Gabriel said. “There is an opportunity right now for Lebanese parliamentarians to convene and elect a clean, competent and reformist president who can form a government that can guide Lebanon through a dangerous but critical phase.”

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Associated Press writer Abby Sewell contributed from Beirut, Lebanon.