The Israeli Ambassador to the US asserted that the Lebanese Army was sidelining members of the military who are unwilling to fight Hezbollah in preparation for conflict with the group. He added that Tel Aviv is pushing Washington to provide more military aid to Israel.
“So you had elements within the [Lebanese Armed Forces] itself that didn’t want to confront Hezbollah, that saw it as a challenge to their own theological affinities,” Israel Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter said on the JPPI’s Jewish Crossroads podcast Thursday. “The solidification of the [Lebanese] government now has moved those elements within the army to the side. So there’s a greater will because of the degrading of Iran, and the degrading of Hezbollah and the fall of Assad.”
Israel has pushed for the Lebanese military to confront Hezbollah, an act that would likely ignite a civil war. It’s unclear whether the Lebanese Army could prevail in a war against Hezbollah. Leiter claims that Tel Aviv was pushing Washington to increase military aid to Beirut.
“We came to our senior partner here in the United States and we said, look, this can really work if the little bit you’re doing can just increase a little bit more,” he explained. “You’re already funding, to a large extent, the Lebanese Armed Forces. If you fund them a little bit more, but now make it progress-based, performance-based, not timelines, that’s another piece of magic we put into this agreement.”
The IDF invaded Lebanon and declared the country’s south an Israeli security zone. Last week, the US brokered a ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government that Hezbollah rejected. Tel Aviv says its forces will remain until Hezbollah is dismantled. “The focus of this agreement is the dismantlement of Hezbollah. It’s not the withdrawal of Israel.” Leiter continued, “Israel is not going to be in Lebanon the moment Hezbollah is dismantled. Hezbollah is dismantled, Israel withdraws and we have full peace.”
Iran says that Israel must agree to a ceasefire in Lebanon without disarming Hezbollah. While Washington signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Tehran that included a ceasefire in Lebanon without requiring the disarming of Hezbollah, President Donald Trump has not forced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to comply with the truce.
