Reuters: US seeks to block Hezbollah ally from naming Lebanon finance minister

Washington is pressuring top Lebanese officials not to allow Hezbollah or its allies to nominate the country's next finance minister, five people with knowledge of the matter said, in an attempt to limit the Iran-backed group's sway over the state.

The straightforward U.S. intervention in Lebanon's sectarian politics appears aimed at capitalizing on shifts in the power balance in Lebanon and the broader Middle East, with Iran-backed Hezbollah badly pummeled from last year's war with Israel and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad ousted from power.

Like all of Lebanon's main factions, the armed group Hezbollah has long named ministers to the government in coordination with its Shiite ally, the Amal Movement, which has picked all of Lebanon's finance ministers since 2014.

But U.S. officials are keen to see that influence diminished as Lebanon's prime minister-designate Nawaf Salam forms a new cabinet, the five sources said, speaking anonymously as they were not authorized to talk to the press.

They said U.S. officials have passed on messages to Salam and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun - who enjoyed U.S. support as army commander and was elected president in early January - that Hezbollah should not be included in the next cabinet.

Three sources said Lebanese American businessman Massad Boulos, who U.S. President Donald Trump appointed as an adviser on Middle Eastern affairs, was one of the people conveying that message to Lebanon.

Although U.S. Republican Congressmen have publicly urged Trump to keep Hezbollah and its allies out of government, it has not previously been reported that Boulos and other U.S. officials were delivering this message directly to Lebanon.

There was no immediate response from the White House or State Department to Reuters questions on whether the U.S. has weighed in on Hezbollah's role in the cabinet or Boulos' role.

Reuters