Key questions loom ahead of US envoy Morgan Ortagus' Beirut visit: Will Hezbollah's disarmament be discussed?

Report by Bassam Abou Zeid, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian

Hours before U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus' anticipated arrival in Beirut, reports about the visit varied, with key questions arising: Will she ask Lebanese officials to set a timeline for Hezbollah's disarmament?

Lebanese official sources confirmed that the information they received suggested Ortagus would be firm on the issue and would clearly request a timeline for disarming Hezbollah.

Sources in Washington said the U.S. envoy would not present the issue in this way but would instead urge Lebanese officials to show courage and take steps toward Hezbollah's disarmament within a set timeframe.

This proposed timeline is based on the premise that the Israeli withdrawal from remaining occupied areas and the resolution of the dispute over contested points will not occur unless Hezbollah's weapons are removed.

In both cases, Washington is applying maximum pressure on Lebanese authorities, with U.S. support for the Israeli stance and ongoing strikes against Hezbollah and its leadership. 

Information suggests that this policy of maximum pressure has faced opposition from the French side, which also supports a timeline for Hezbollah's disarmament but insists that it should not happen before certain promised reforms in April and the completion of municipal elections in May. 

This should be followed by dialogue with the Shiite community to convince them that their best interest lies in having the state hold the exclusive right to arms and control over decisions of war and peace.

Lebanese officials, led by President Joseph Aoun, are aware of the difficulty in handling the U.S. stance, but they emphasize that there will be no retreat from the principle of exclusive state control over arms.

However, achieving this goal will not be done through force but through dialogue with the concerned parties and a national security strategy controlled solely by the state.

Information suggests that President Aoun, during his visit to France, expressed his astonishment to President Emmanuel Macron over the U.S. request for the rapid disarmament of Hezbollah. 

He pointed out that Israel, which has been fighting Hamas in Gaza for over a year, has been unable to disarm the group or stop rocket fire. How, he asked, could Lebanon be expected to do what Israel has failed to accomplish?