US sees a window for a new push to break political deadlock in Lebanon to ease conflict

WASHINGTON (AP) — With Israel’s sabotage and military operations in Lebanon taking out many of Hezbollah’s senior leaders, some in Washington and elsewhere believe there may be a window for a new push to break the political deadlock in Lebanon to try to ease escalating war.

To that end, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken with his Saudi, Qatari and French counterparts about how a resolution — particularly the election of a new Lebanese president — might reduce tensions in the Middle East by getting Hezbollah to move its forces away from Israel’s northern border to the line set out in a U.N. Security Council resolution ending the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

“It’s clear that the people of Lebanon have an interest, a strong interest, in the state asserting itself and taking responsibility for the country and its future,” Blinken told reporters Friday in Laos. “The presidency has been vacant for two years now, and for the Lebanese people, having a head of state would be very important.”

He said Lebanon’s future is for its people to decide and no one else, including “any outside actor, whether it’s the United States, Israel, or any of the many actors in the region.”

The U.S. and others have been pressing for years for an end to the political deadlock in Lebanon to no avail. The country’s sectarian power-sharing system has always been prone to stalemate. The U.S. points the blame for the two-year presidential vacuum at resistance to compromise by Iran-backed Hezbollah, which is considered a legitimate political party in Lebanon and has been part of its government for nearly two decades despite being designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., Israel and others.

After the term of former President Michel Aoun ended in October 2022, Lebanon’s deeply divided parliament met several times to elect a successor and failed every time. Hezbollah has been backing Sleiman Frangieh, a Christian politician allied with the Shiite group, for the position.

The opposing faction has put forward a series of names, but the man widely seen as Frangieh’s main competition — although he has not officially declared his candidacy — is the Lebanese army commander, Gen. Joseph Aoun, who is generally seen as close to the U.S.

In the meantime, the worsening political paralysis and stalled measures to alleviate a crippling economic crisis have plunged three-quarters of the population into poverty.

But now, U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss current Biden administration thinking, said there may be a window for movement in the wake of the militant group’s recent degradation at the hands of Israel.

That view is not universally shared in Washington, with some officials arguing that Hezbollah is too entrenched in Lebanon’s political scene, its military and its civil and social services for its influence to be eradicated. Yet, even the skeptics are willing to give it a try, officials said.

Blinken said Friday in Laos that he has been engaged in numerous conversations about the situation. And he is expected to attend an international conference on Lebanon hosted by France later this month, U.S. officials said.

“What I’m getting from these conversations is a strong desire not only on the part of the many countries that are concerned about Lebanon, but especially the Lebanese themselves to actually see the state stand up, assert itself, take responsibility for the lives of its citizens,” he said.

Blinken earlier this week spoke to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed Al Thani, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot about the matter.

With his Saudi and Qatari counterparts, Blinken “discussed the importance of implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1701 in Lebanon to allow civilians on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border to return to their homes,” the State Department said in near identical statements.

The U.N. resolution, whose terms have never fully been enforced, called for Israeli forces to fully withdraw from southern Lebanon after a monthlong war with Hezbollah in 2006, while the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers would be the exclusive armed presence in the area.

With his French counterpart, Blinken discussed “the evolving situation in the Middle East and the importance of coordinating efforts on a diplomatic resolution that would allow citizens of Israel and Lebanon to return to their homes,” the department said.

And with his Egyptian counterpart, Blinken “noted the United States’ ongoing support to Lebanese state institutions, including the Lebanese Armed Forces” and repeated the need for full implementation of the Security Council resolution.

Ed Gabriel, president of the American Task Force on Lebanon, a nonprofit that aims to build stronger U.S.-Lebanon ties, said the group has high regard for Aoun, the Lebanese army commander, and “his leadership of the only fully functioning institution in Lebanon.”

“We do not think it is in the interest of Lebanon for outside parties to weigh in on the country’s sovereign right to elect their own president,” Gabriel said. “There is an opportunity right now for Lebanon’s parliamentarians to convene and elect a clean, competent, and reform-oriented president who can form a government that can steer Lebanon through what is a dangerous but critical phase.”

___

Associated Press writer Abby Sewell contributed from Beirut, Lebanon.

Matthew Lee, The Associated Press