Lebanon officials blast US envoy meddling comments
Senior members of Hezbollah have lambasted comments by visiting US envoy Morgan Ortagus as “blatant interference” in Lebanon’s affairs and a violation of diplomatic norms and international relations.
Ortagus said after meeting President Joseph Aoun on Friday that Hezbollah “should not be included” in Lebanon’s future government and that the inclusion of Hezbollah was a “red line” for Washington.
Reacting to the comments, Mohammad Raad, head of Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc – the political wing of Hezbollah – in the Lebanese parliament, said the US envoy’s statement was “full of hate and irresponsibility.”
“It targeted a Lebanese component that is an integral part of the national agreement and Lebanese political life that stood up to Israeli aggression and emerged victorious,” Raad said in a statement to the media on Friday, PressTV reported.
Such American comments “are an unacceptable interference in Lebanese affairs and a disrespect to all diplomatic customs and international diplomacy rules,” he added.
Rejecting Ortagus’s claim that Hezbollah was “defeated” by Israel, the Lebanese MP said, “The victor is the one who has exposed the true image of the aggressor, revealing how it commits genocide against civilians, children, and women, targets homes and hospitals, and destroys entire residential neighborhoods.”
Raad stressed that Israel’s war on Gaza and Lebanon exposed the regime’s “ugly reality,” and the global community can see who truly funds and arms terrorism and displaces people from their lands.
“We rely on the resistance of our people, which is based on the army-people-resistance equation, the realistic equation that Lebanon can be proud of as it preserves its sovereignty,” he added.
Mahmoud Qamati, deputy head of Hezbollah’s political council, also strongly responded to interventionist remarks by the US envoy and said Ortagus “threatened a large segment of the Lebanese people” through her statements.
Lebanon’s presidency also said in a statement on X that “some of what was issued by the US Deputy Envoy to the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, from Baabda Palace expresses her point of view, and the Presidency is not concerned with it.”
In response to Ortagus’s statement, the Jaafari Mufti, Sheikh Ahmad Qabalan — a senior Shiite cleric and staunch Hezbollah ally — said in a statement, “Hezbollah is a national and representative force of Lebanon.”
The latest development comes amid reports that the US has been hindering efforts aimed at the formation of a new government in Lebanon by “pressuring” the country’s top echelons to restrict the influence of Hezbollah and its allies in the upcoming cabinet.
Five unnamed sources, quoted by Reuters, said US officials had passed on messages to Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam and to President Joseph Aoun to limit Hezbollah’s sway over the country’s sectarian politics.
SD/
