Graham ends meeting with Lebanese army chief over Hezbollah stance

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Thursday he had abruptly ended a meeting with Lebanon’s military chief in Beirut after the latter declined to label Hezbollah a terrorist organization, raising fresh doubts about the Lebanese army’s reliability as a security partner.

“I asked him point blank if he believes Hezbollah is a terrorist organization,” Graham wrote on X, referring to a meeting with Lebanese Armed Forces commander Gen. Rodolphe Haykal. “He said, ‘No, not in the context of Lebanon.’ With that, I ended the meeting.”

Graham said Hezbollah is “clearly a terrorist organization,” noting that it has “American blood on its hands,” including the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut. He emphasized that Hezbollah has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by both Republican and Democratic administrations since 1997.

“As long as this attitude exists from the Lebanese Armed Forces, I don’t think we have a reliable partner in them,” Graham wrote. “I am tired of the double speak in the Middle East. Too much is at stake.”

The Lebanese Armed Forces announced on Jan. 8 that it had completed the first phase of its national disarmament plan, expanding its operational control in Southern Lebanon as part of efforts to “extend the state’s authority exclusively through its own forces over the entirety of Lebanese territory.”

According to the Lebanese Armed Forces, the first phase focused on increasing troop presence, securing key areas and extending operational control in the South Litani sector, excluding areas it said remain under Israeli occupation. Israel continues to hold five strategic hilltop positions inside Southern Lebanon along the border, citing the need to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding attack capabilities near Israeli communities.

The Lebanese army’s five-phase “Shield of the Homeland” plan is intended to disarm all non-state militias in Lebanon, with a focus on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization.

Hezbollah opened a second front against Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after the Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel, launching sustained rocket and missile attacks on northern Israeli communities. The fighting ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire on Nov. 27, 2024, which required Hezbollah’s disarmament and the deployment of the Lebanese army to ensure a monopoly over arms in the country.

Israel has repeatedly said it expects the Lebanese government and military to fulfill those commitments in full. In a statement on Jan. 8, the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem said the ceasefire agreement “states clearly that Hezbollah must be fully disarmed,” calling this “imperative for Israel’s security and Lebanon’s future.”

The Prime Minister’s Office said that while steps taken by the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Armed Forces toward disarmament are “an encouraging beginning,” they remain “far from sufficient,” citing Hezbollah’s continued efforts to rearm and rebuild its terrorist infrastructure with Iranian support.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said, “The facts remain that extensive Hezbollah military infrastructure still exists south of the Litani River.”

“The goal of disarming Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon remains far from being achieved,” the ministry said, releasing footage it said shows Hezbollah sites that have yet to be dismantled.

The statement added that Hezbollah continues to rearm with Iranian support, saying it was “regrettable” that there have been instances of cooperation between elements within the Lebanese Armed Forces and Hezbollah.

“It should be emphasized that the IDF’s strikes against Hezbollah do not delay the goal of disarming the organization—on the contrary, they advance it,” the Foreign Ministry said.

The IDF said it launched a wave of strikes on Thursday night targeting Hezbollah terror infrastructure in “several areas in Lebanon.”

© JNS