In a Sunday interview, US envoy Tom Barrack accused Lebanon of not taking “concrete actions” to disarm Hezbollah, saying that all they do is talk, and that Israel will absolutely not withdraw from locations inside southern Lebanon that they’ve occupied since last year’s invasion.
During the interview, Barrack claimed Hezbollah was rebuilding its strength. Declaring both Hezbollah and Iran as enemies, he further declared “we need to cut off the heads of these snakes and stop their funding.”
Despite that, Barrack also said that the US would not directly attack Hezbollah, “neither with our own forces nor through CENTCOM.” Since CENTCOM is the US military’s arm in the region, it’s not clear why he mentioned them separately.
US Ambassador to Turkey Thomas Barrack | Image from Reuters
The US wasn’t directly attacking Hezbollah in the first place, but rather giving Israel diplomatic cover and support while they attacked Lebanon. That has continued in spite of the ceasefire, with the US never objecting publicly, and indeed reports are that yesterday’s Israeli attack may well have killed US citizens including children, though the State Department is trying to dispute that.
While Israel continues the strikes, there are also reports that they are threatening to escalate further into an outright ground invasion, with one outlet quoting Israeli sources as saying a new invasion would happen if Lebanon did not act further against the group.
Adding to the sense that nothing Lebanon does is going to ultimately matter anyway, Barrack concluded the argument by declaring “peace is an illusion” and that “there’s never been peace, there will probably never be peace.”
