Continuing the increasingly confusing situation centering on the US demands for Lebanon to fully disarm Hezbollah by November, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack was in Lebanon again to meet with officials, and to dismiss the guarantees Lebanese officials were seeking.
Hezbollah rejected the disarmament demand citing the constant Israeli attacks and ongoing occupation of Lebanese soil. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam wanted a guarantee from the US that Israel would actually stop attacking Lebanon if the disarmament happened, so that could be used as leverage to try to reintroduce the talks with Hezbollah.
Though it had previously been suggested in media reports that the US was floating such guarantees along with the demand, Barrack was quick to disavow the idea, declaring that the US has “no business in trying to compel Israel to do anything.”
US Ambassador to Turkey Thomas Barrack | Image from Reuters
Since the US was, along with France, meant to be the guarantors of the November ceasefire, they actually do in this case have business in trying to compel Israel to meet the terms of that ceasefire.
Moreover, the US is actively trying to get Israel to stop attacking Syria, so they plainly have no problem in trying to compel Israel to stop attacking places. It’s just that in Lebanon, Barrack simply isn’t concerned with the thousands of Israeli strikes carried out since the ceasefire went into effect. Barrack even addressed the Israeli attacks on Syria, saying they came at a very bad time.
Barrack continued to try to totally rewrite the history of what the US was demanding, what it was offering, and what it was threatening with respect to Lebanon, declaring that the US wasn’t considering any retaliation if Hezbollah wasn’t disarmed. “There’s no consequence, there’s no threat, there’s no whip,” he insisted.
Nine days prior, in an interview with The National, Barrack threatened Lebanon’s continued existence if they don’t “get in line” and comply with the US demands. He raised the prospect of Israel and Syria just carving up Lebanese territory among themselves.
Now the Barrack narrative seems to be that all of this never happened. It’s not the first time he’s totally changed the story publicly. A week before that newsworthy threat in the interview, he insisted he was “unbelievably satisfied” with Lebanon’s response to the demands which was, to be a clear, a rejection of the US demands.
A billionaire real estate investor, Barrack first dealt with President Trump in the 1980s, selling him the Plaza Hotel for $410 million. He supported Trump heavily in his 2016 campaign, and served as a middle man for a number of wealthy Gulf states following that. He was appointed the Ambassador to Turkey in May, and has since been given the Syria portfolio as well. Though it’s not among his job titles, he’s also been the centerpiece of Trump Administration demands on Lebanon, though clearly it’s not always easy to pin down what those positions actually are.
