BEIRUT (Reuters) -Top U.S. envoy Thomas Barrack said on Monday Israel should comply with a plan under which Lebanese militant group Hezbollah would be disarmed by the end of the year in exchange for a halt to Israel’s military operations in Lebanon.
The plan sets out a phased roadmap for armed groups to hand in their arsenals as Israel’s military halts ground, air and sea operations and withdraws troops from Lebanon’s south.
Lebanon’s cabinet approved the plan’s objectives earlier this month despite Hezbollah’s refusal to disarm, and Barrack said it was now Israel’s turn to cooperate.
“There’s always a step-by-step approach, but I think the Lebanese government has done their part. They’ve taken the first step. Now what we need is Israel to comply with that equal handshake,” Barrack told reporters in Lebanon after meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.
Barrack described the cabinet decree as a “Lebanese decision that requires Israel’s cooperation” and said the United States was “in the process of now discussing with Israel what their position is” but provided no further details.
Under phase 1 of the plan, which was seen by Reuters, the Lebanese government would issue a decision committing to Hezbollah’s full disarmament by the end of the year and Israel would cease military operations in Lebanese territory.
But Israel has continued strikes against Lebanon in the weeks since the cabinet approved the plan.
In a written statement after his meeting with Barrack, Aoun said that “other parties” now needed to commit to the roadmap’s contents.
Calls for Hezbollah to disarm have mounted since a war with Israel last year killed 5,000 of the group’s fighters and much of its top brass and left swathes of southern Lebanon in ruins.
But the group has resisted the pressure, refusing to discuss its arsenal until Israel ends its strikes and withdraws troops from southern Lebanon.
On Friday, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem raised the spectre of civil war, warning there would be “no life” in Lebanon should the state attempt to confront or eliminate the group.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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