New US bill seeks to disarm Hezbollah and strengthen UN force in Lebanon

A bill to seek a US intelligence report on Hezbollah’s arsenal and to evaluate the effectiveness of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon is gaining bipartisan support in the US Congress.

The Disarm Hezbollah Act requires the Director of National Intelligence to produce, within 90 days of its passage, a report on Hezbollah’s “capabilities, arsenal and the illicit supply routes it uses to procure weapons”, a final draft seen by The National shows.

The six-page bill does not include punitive measures against Hezbollah or the Lebanese government but the director’s report will be used to evaluate the role of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.

“For decades, Hezbollah has continued to present a clear and present danger to the US and our allies, and despite sanctions on this terrorist organisation they continue to grow and sow chaos in the Middle East,” Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger said while introducing the bill with Democrat Tom Suozzi.

Mr Kinzinger said the bill sought to strengthen the role of Unifil, the UN force in Lebanon, and set up ways to block Hezbollah’s access to arms.

Mr Souzzi also stressed the growing threat from Hezbollah. The group’s increased capabilities “threaten our Middle East interests and allies, particularly Israel”, he said.

He said the bill would “help to improve our intelligence community’s understanding of a serious threat on the doorstep of one of our allies”.

The bill deems Hezbollah, designated as terrorist organisation by the US in 1997, as a “grave danger” to the US and its interests and allies.

It accuses the Iran-funded group of “conducting armed interference in multiple conflicts, most notably those of Yemen, Iraq and Syria”.

The bill also examines the role of Unifil and whether its mandate to assist the Lebanese army in establishing an armsfree area in South Lebanon had been successful.

The force has come under intense scrutiny from the Trump administration and Israel for failing to demilitarise the area in which it operates.

“It’s time the Security Council puts teeth in Unifil the operation,” US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said in August. “We don’t need to be giving terrorists a pass.”

Ms Haley said the 10,000-strong force was “not doing its job effectively”, and that its commander “seems to be the only person in south Lebanon who is blind” to weapons passing into or through the area of its control.

Randa Slim, a director of conflict resolution at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told The National she saw the bill as “laying the groundwork for Congress to stop funding Unifil”.

The Trump government has already sought a 42 per cent cut in funds for the force in next year’s budget, down to $84.2 million (Dh309.2m) from previous years.

While the bill, if enacted into law in its current version, could be used to cut funding or exert pressure to strengthen Unifil’s mandate, Ms Slim did not expect it to end the UN peacekeeping mission altogether in Lebanon.

Unifil has come under scrutiny from the Mr Trump and Israel for failing to demilitarise the area in which it operates