US Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack and Deputy Special Envoy Morgan Ortagus arrived in Israel on Sunday and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Monday, Lebanese media reported that Ortagus had arrived in Lebanon.
The regional trip is important because it comes as Lebanon’s government has said it is trying to disarm various groups. At the top of the list of groups that need to be disarmed in Lebanon is Hezbollah.
This is seen as a huge challenge, however, and Beirut has preferred low-hanging fruit. Beirut has tried to disarm Palestinian groups first. Hezbollah has hinted at civil war if the government tries to take its arms.
Pressure may be building on Lebanon now. In the wake of Barrack and Ortagus visiting Israel, Beirut may feel that the US increasingly wants progress in its serious desire to see real action.
London-based The Arab Weekly characterized Ortagus’s return to the scene in Lebanon as important. She has the background that matters, it reported.
“That knowledge is precisely why her return matters,” the report said. “Lebanese leaders thrive on ambiguity, on exhausting new envoys with a maze of committees, statements and staged ‘dialogue.’ Ortagus is not new to this. She has already rattled the system once, and her reappearance signals she is ready to do so again, this time with Barrack as the public face and herself as the watchful enforcer.”
Meanwhile, US Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Illinois) has visited Lebanon, Lebanon’s pro-Hezbollah Al-Akhbar newspaper reported. He came with a delegation that included Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tennessee).
LaHood is the co-chair of the US-Lebanon Friendship Caucus and praised the election of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in January.
“Congressman Darin LaHood praised the government’s measures to restrict the possession of weapons by the state and implement judicial and financial reforms,” Al-Akhbar reported Monday. “He said, ‘These steps contribute to restoring the international community’s confidence in Lebanon.’”
LaHood and Cohen met with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in the presence of the US ambassador, National News Agency (NNA) of Lebanon reported. They also met with Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Rodolph Haykal on Saturday.
The role of UNIFIL within Lebanon
“The essential role of the United Nations Interim Force in South Lebanon (UNIFIL) was also emphasized in light of the exceptional circumstances and challenges facing Lebanon,” NNA reported.
Salam spoke to the US members of congress about the essential role of the Lebanese Army and also about UNIFIL, the report said. Salam stressed “the necessity of Israel respecting Lebanon’s sovereignty and withdrawing from the occupied territories,” adding that this “will enable the army to complete its deployment, cease its hostile actions, and release prisoners, paving the way for the beginning of the process of reconstruction and recovery.”
“The Lebanese Army is the army of all Lebanese, and supporting it constitutes a fundamental pillar for enhancing security,” Salam was quoted as saying.
Hezbollah and the Shi’ite Amal movement are calling for protests in Lebanon against disarmament.
“The Amal Movement’s Central Labor Bureau and Hezbollah’s Central Union of Trade Unions and Workers called on ‘Lebanon’s honorable workers, producers, and unionists to gather at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Riad al-Solh Square,’ in ‘denunciation of the two government decisions issued on August 5 and 7, 2025,’ referring to the government’s decision to task the army with preparing a disarmament plan,” Al-Akhbar reported.
“The statement by the groups noted that ‘this stand is an affirmation of our right to preserve our weapons, which have proven their ability to break the back of the enemy, and our right to resist the Israeli enemy, which is violating our land, occupying part of it, and restricting our freedom.’”
It is one thing for the government of Lebanon to vow to disarm groups, but the proof will be whether it can actually collect the arms. Ultimately, it is not enough to trust Beirut; verification will be needed.
So far, Beirut has not collected any arms from Hezbollah.