U.S. delegation surveys economic crisis

BEIRUT — A group of U.S. congressmen held meetings Saturday with Lebanon’s top leaders during a fact-finding mission to the Middle East nation roiled by an unprecedented economic crisis.

The delegation is to provide to President Biden and Congress proposals to aid the Lebanese. The country’s new government, in place since September, has struggled to adopt reforms and make progress in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.

The U.S. team includes Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista (San Diego County), Republican Rep. Darin LaHood of Illinois, and Edward Gabriel, head of the American Task Force for Lebanon based in Washington. The three, who arrived Friday and are to spend three days in Lebanon, first met with President Michel Aoun.

Lebanon’s crisis is rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement. The international community has said it will only help the small nation once it implements significant reforms and tackles widespread corruption.

Gabriel told the local AlJadeed TV that the congressmen are in town “to see first hand” the situation in Lebanon and that he hoped they would “come up with some new ideas“for ways the United States could help the Lebanese.

Lebanon’s economic meltdown began in late 2019 and has thrown three quarters of the country’s 6 million people, including a million Syrian refugees, into poverty.