Lebanon's army commander Gen Rodolph Haykal has arrived in the US as he prepares a plan for the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah north of the Litani River.
Gen Haykal was supposed to visit the US last November but the trip was scrapped, in what was seen at the time as a signal of American frustration with Lebanon’s leadership over stalled efforts to disarm Iran-backed Hezbollah.
On his current trip, the head of the Lebanese Armed Forces has met US military chief of staff Gen Dan Caine, as well as Lt Gen Joseph Clearfield, who heads a committee overseeing breaches of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire. Lebanon said Israel has broken the ceasefire thousands of times.
“The LAF's continuing work to disarm non-state actors and reinforce national sovereignty as Lebanon’s security guarantor is more important than ever,” said the US embassy in Lebanon after Gen Haykal and Lt Gen Clearfield spoke.
Last month, the LAF said it had completed phase one of the process to disarm Hezbollah, extending its control south of the Litani. Gen Haykal will brief the Lebanese cabinet this month on plans to disarm Hezbollah south of the Awali River for stage two of the process.
In recent days, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said Israeli aircraft have been observed dropping unidentified chemicals into Lebanese and Syrian territory, forcing UN peacekeepers in Lebanon to withdraw from about a third of their area of operations after Israel informed them of planned aerial activity.
Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun said the Israelis were spraying “toxic pesticides” on south Lebanon in attacks that mark “a blatant violation of Lebanese sovereignty, an environmental and health crime against Lebanese citizens and their land, and a continuation of the repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon and its people”.
It remains unclear how the chemicals have affected foliage and agricultural land near the border. Researchers and environmental campaigners have been unable to access the area, which remains hazardous and volatile, with Israel continuing to bomb southern Lebanon almost daily despite the November 2024 ceasefire.
Israel continues to carry out daily strikes on alleged Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and to occupy Lebanese territory despite the truce.
The army has removed Hezbollah's weapons and military infrastructure in the southern border region as part of the terms of the truce and it hopes to eventually disarm the group under the government's plan to bring all arms under state control.
However, Hezbollah has firmly rejected any conversation over its weapons until the Israelis withdraw from south Lebanon and cease their attacks.
