Alwaght- Continuing its overbearing policies, the US administration under President Donald Trump has reactivated its "New Middle East" project with a focus on Lebanon. After the developments in recent months, including the fall of Syrian government, Washington, which is seeing itself a step closer to realization of its plan for splitting and containing the Axis of Resistance in the region, is working to deal the final blow to Hezbollah resistance movement in Lebanon. Within this framework, Washington is making empty economic promises with ostensibly reformative slogans to eliminate Hezbollah from the country's equations.
In this connection, the US special envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack has recently announced that if the Lebanese officials want the Israeli regime to withdraw from southern Lebanon, they have to disarm Hezbollah by November.
Two sources familiar with the matter said that the roadmap presented by the American diplomat consisted of six pages and that he wanted a response from Lebanese authorities by the beginning of July. The roadmap stressed the disarmament of Hezbollah and other armed groups in Lebanon, along with improving relations with Syria, which is currently ruled by terrorist groups. Barrack claimed that weapons should be in the hands of the Lebanese government alone.
The AFP wrote that Barrack's message included three points: Drawing and controlling Lebanon's borders with Syria, and financial reforms.
Lebanon demands guarantees
Since Barrack has given the Lebanese officials only two weeks to have their say on the new US plan, Beirut officials have also started working. Reuters reported that the Lebanese government is preparing a draft of its response to the US demands. A committee consisting of the prime minister, president and speaker of the Lebanese parliament is supposed to respond to the roadmap.
The Lebanese, who have the bitter experience of the ceasefire agreement in mind, do not want to leap into the dark this time and are seeking guarantees from the Americans.
"In this draft, Lebanon will demand guarantees that Israel will stop violating the ceasefire, withdraw from the five disputed points, release prisoners, demarcate borders and also allow rebuilding Lebanon," said a Lebanese source familiar with the matter.
It should be noted that Lebanon and the Israeli regime signed a ceasefire agreement in December of last year after two months of conflict, and the occupying army was supposed to withdraw from southern Lebanon, and the Lebanese army, along with UNIFIL forces, was supposed to be deployed in these areas, with Hezbollah forces retreating to the Litani River border.
But, the Israelis are still present in these areas under various pretexts, including Hezbollah's failure to fulfill its commitments under the ceasefire, and have violated the ceasefire hundreds of times during this period, killing and wounding dozens of Lebanese. However, the West has turned a blind eye to these crimes, and instead of checking the ambitions of Netanyahu, they are constantly pressuring Beirut government, arguing that the only way for the Israeli army to withdraw from southern Lebanon is to disarm Hezbollah. Tel Aviv has repeatedly stated that it will not allow Hezbollah to rebuild its military capabilities and pose a threat to the occupied territories.
Efforts to push Lebanon to normalization with Israel
The new US proposal ostensibly serves the Lebanese home stability and government, but deep in its core, it carries a prelude to normalization between Beirut and Tel Aviv. Hezbollah as the main resistance force against Israeli occupation is a strategic and ideological barrier to any official interaction with this expansionist regime, and Israelis think that it should be removed by any means.
This is while Sheikh Naim Qassem, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, has repeatedly warned that no one can disarm the resistance movement, because this action aims to weaken Lebanon and is a beginning for the expansionism and occupation by Israel and will help it advance its evil plans.
In a situation where the US is once again trying to force Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah under security guarantees and structural reforms plans, the historical experience of the Lebanese people has proven that neither Trump nor the Israelis can be trusted.
The erratic Trump has repeatedly shown that his policy is not based on the rights of nations, but rather serves the interests of Tel Aviv and the Israeli lobby. Agreements such as the Deal of the Century, betrayal of the Palestinian cause, and pressure on the Iran-led Axis of Resistance are examples of this unreliable policy. The Israeli regime, with its decades of occupation, aggression on Lebanese soil, terror, siege, and continuous violation of international resolutions, has left no moral or legal basis for claiming security or peace.
The ultimate goal of this project is to save the Israeli regime from security, political, and social crises, as it is facing a crisis of legitimacy from within and pressure from resistance from without. In such an environment, no agreement or promise can prevent the Lebanese people from their legitimate and legal right to resist aggression and occupation.
Resistance has deep popular roots
Washington is trying to upset the power balance in favor of Tel Aviv by weakening the national and identity structures of the countries in the region, but the historical experience and awareness of the Lebanese people raise a major check in the face of this recurring scenario. Because resistance is not only a choice, but also a defensive and identity necessity for the Lebanese people.
The results of the recent Lebanese municipal elections also clearly showed that the popularity of the Resistance camp is still intact and is even growing. The people's vote for the lists and movements supporting Hezbollah and its allies is a clear response to foreign plans and conspiracies that, with deceptive security and economic slogans, seek to disarm the resistance movement and surrender Lebanon to the demands of the Israeli regime. The Lebanese people have shown that they are vigilant to foreign plots and consider the resistance to be an asset, not an obstacle. Therefore, no security guarantee from the enemies can replace the deterrent power of Hezbollah.
Finally, the US proposal to disarm Hezbollah and push Lebanon towards a thaw with Israel is a repetition of a failed plan with a new veil, a plan that neither considers the field realities of the region nor understands the will of the Lebanese people.
At a time Hezbollah has become the backbone of the security of Lebanon and its dignity, the push to eliminate it with empty promises and foreign pressures will meet its failure. Lebanon's people who have enjoyed victory against Israeli occupation with reliance on Hezbollah will never lose this precious asset.
