US cannot force Israel to suspend attacks on Lebanon, says a diplomat

Asked about these guarantees, Barrack told reporters after a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam that the US “has no right to try to force Israel to do anything.”

He added that the US is not forcing Lebanon to withdraw Hezbollah’s weapons or considering sanctions against Lebanese authorities if Hezbollah is not disarmed.

“There is no consequence, there is no threat, no whip,” he said.

Barck, a longtime advisor to US President Donald Trump, also acts as a US ambassador to Turkey and a special sent to Syria.

He is on his third trip to Lebanon in just over a month to discuss the US script, which covers the disarmament of non -state armed groups, long -awaited economic reforms and ties with the Syrian neighbor.

Israel and Hezbollah waged a war of months last year, which ended with a US mediated truce, requiring both sides to stop fighting, to remove troops and Lebanon be free of all non -state weapons, starting with the southern region, closer to the Israeli border.