US envoy pressures Israel to back Lebanon's Hezbollah disarmament plan

A senior United States envoy on Monday pressed Israel to honor the terms of a ceasefire that ended its war with Hezbollah, as Lebanon moved to disarm the Iran-backed group. After meeting Lebanon’s president in Beirut, the envoy said the Lebanese government had taken the first step and that Israel must now participate, including a full withdrawal from Lebanese territory. He framed the next weeks as a period of progress on multiple fronts, including an economic plan aimed at prosperity, restoration and renovation for a country long battered by conflict and crisis.

The Lebanese cabinet recently endorsed a US-backed plan that envisions Hezbollah being disarmed by the end of the year, marking an unprecedented step in a country where former civil-war factions once surrendered their weapons and where Hezbollah has long argued it must retain its arsenal for security. The plan is a four-phase roadmap: phase one commits to Hezbollah’s full disarmament with Israel ceasing operations in Lebanese territory; phase two would implement disarmament within 60 days and expand Lebanese military deployments to the south; phase three calls for further Israeli withdrawal from border areas and funding...