Israel presses US for deadline on Hezbollah disarmament ahead of Morgan Ortagus' visit

Report by Amal Shehadeh, English adaptation by Mariella Succar

Israel moved ahead of U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus’ visit to the region this week by urging Washington to set a firm deadline—one agreed upon with the Lebanese government during the visit—for disarming Hezbollah.

The call came as new reports claimed that Hezbollah has bolstered its readiness for a confrontation with Israel, amid heightened Israeli threats to strike areas in Lebanon that were not targeted in the recent war.

As part of its campaign, Tel Aviv dismissed the Lebanese Army’s media tour for local and foreign journalists of Hezbollah tunnels as nothing more than a publicity effort meant to promote the government’s implementation of an agreement to disarm Hezbollah.

In parallel, Israel delivered a report to Washington alleging that Hezbollah has strengthened its capabilities, reactivated weapons-supply routes from Syria with Iranian support, and reinforced its presence in southern Lebanon. 

The report also claimed the group has enhanced its missile arsenal capable of striking deep inside Israel, increased its intelligence operations, and improved its capacity to wage a long war.

Given this situation, Israeli security officials argued that Lebanon and Syria constitute a single front and called for the establishment of wide buffer zones along both borders to prevent threats to Israel.

Following revelations of failures in the Israeli attack on Beit Jinn in southern Syria—despite extensive preparations—Israeli officials are reviewing various scenarios to counter what they describe as an escalating threat.

Iran remained central to the Israeli discussions, with Israeli officials asserting that Tehran has resumed rearming itself out of concern about the possibility of another Israeli war.