Writers: Nizar Ghanem, Spencer Osberg
Washington is once again dangling financial incentives in front of Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah and make peace with Israel. This week, for the first time in more than three decades, Lebanon and Israel held official talks, with the US ambassadors of both countries sitting down in Washington under the auspices of Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Following the meeting, the State Department said it hopes the follow-on negotiations will go beyond the scope of the 2024 ceasefire and unlock “reconstruction assistance and economic recovery for Lebanon.”
Amid a 10-day ceasefire meant to curb Hezbollah rocket fire and Israel’s ongoing invasion and reoccupation of South Lebanon, Washington is, at the same time, packaging a future peace deal through the lens of economic recovery, ostensibly as a reward for the Lebanese government to “restore the monopoly of force and to end Iran’s overbearing influence,” according to the State Department. The question, however, is what kind of “recovery” the Trump administration has in mind, whether it will meet the basic needs of everyday Lebanese citizens, or if instead it will exacerbate the state failures that allowed Hezbollah to build its parallel military, financial, and institutional ecosystems.
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