Lebanon still needs to do “more” to disarm Hezbollah after the war between the group and Israel, US Deputy Middle East Envoy Morgan Ortagus said on Tuesday, AFP reports.
Under the agreement to end 14 months of fighting last November, Hezbollah was supposed to withdraw its fighters north of the Litani River in Lebanon, and Israel was supposed to withdraw all its forces from southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese army has been deployed in the area since the Israeli withdrawal and has dismantled Hezbollah infrastructure there.
UN peacekeepers are also present in the area, monitoring the ceasefire.
“The Lebanese authorities have done more in the last six months than perhaps in the last 15 years,” Ortagus told the Qatar Economic Forum, speaking about efforts to disarm Hezbollah.
“But there is still a lot of work to do,” she added.
“We in the United States are calling for the complete disarmament of Hezbollah. And that doesn’t mean just south of the Litani. It means the entire country,” Ortagus told a conference in Qatar, calling on Lebanese politicians to “make a decision.”
Despite the ceasefire, Israel continues to carry out airstrikes on its neighbor.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said last month that the army has deployed to more than 85 percent of southern Lebanon and that the only obstacle to full control of the border zone is Israel’s occupation of five border positions.