Tillerson says Hezbollah is a danger to Lebanon
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on a visit to Beirut yesterday said Hezbollah’s “growing arsenal” and “entanglement in regional conflicts” presented a danger to Lebanon.
Taking aim at the Iranianbacked militia and political party, part of Lebanon’s government, he also criticised its support for the regime of the Syrian president, Bashar Al Assad, in the civil war in that country.
Such backing was a breach of Lebanon’s own dissociation policy, to spare it the negative repercussions of regional conflicts, Mr Tillerson said in the capital during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
“Hezbollah is not just a concern for the US. Their involvement in these far-off conflicts is felt here in Lebanon,” he said.
Mr Tillerson reiterated the US government’s long-standing policy towards Hezbollah, which Washington more than two decades ago designated a terrorist organisation.
“We neither see nor accept any distinction between its political and military arms,” the top US diplomat said.
While the Hezbollah leader,
Hassan Nasrallah, has said the group would remove its fighters from Iraq, it is unlikely to draw down in Syria soon.
Policy on Lebanon is a contentious matter in the US government. While at the same time levelling economic sanctions against entities and individuals associated with Hezbollah, a group it blames for attacks on the US embassy and marine barracks in Beirut in the 1980s, the US has provided more than $1 billion (Dh3.67bn) in military aid to Lebanon’s sovereign forces in the past decade.
Some US politicians have argued that completely cutting aid to Lebanon is the best way to deal with the growing regional influence of Hezbollah, while the argument that the US should provide aid to maintain even a little influence in Lebanon continues to prevail.
Among the issues that stoke support for Hezbollah in Lebanon are unresolved disputes over the two countries’ southern border. Tensions have risen in the past month after Israel challenged claims to offshore territory Lebanon has approved for petroleum exploration and began building a “security wall” along the inland portion of the line.
“We will continue to be very engaged with both parties, but we’ve asked no one to give up anything,” Mr Tillerson said, appearing to contradict a media report that the US might end mediation efforts regarding the two countries’ maritime border if Lebanon did not accept a resolution proposed by a US official in 2011.
Mr Tillerson said the US would also help to mediate the inland dispute.
He also met Lebanese President Michel Aoun, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, and Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil.
“It is important to have an agreement so companies can begin work,” he said of the petroleum dispute with Israel.
Mr Hariri, for his part, reiterated that Lebanon was unwilling to give up any part of what it claimed as its territory.
“What is ours is ours, and what is Israel’s is Israel’s, and I think we’re trying to find solutions that will be fair to everyone – there are some new ideas,” the Lebanese premier said, without elaborating.
Mr Tillerson’s remarks came ahead of his trip to Turkey, scheduled for today, at which the nations’ roles in Syria will dominate discussions.
The US and Turkey have been at odds over the role of Kurdish fighters.
Mr Tillerson denied that the US had provided heavy weapons to the YPG, a Syrian Kurdish militia that Turkey considers a terrorist group.
Mr Hariri insists Lebanon will not give up any part of what it claims as its territory