The U.S. under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale announced Washington’s proceeding efforts to counter Iran’s dangerous activities across the Middle East, which include Tehran’s ongoing support of its Lebanese-proxy Hezbollah. Following a meeting with the designate Lebanese Prime Minister Sa’ad al-Hariri, the American under-Secretary stressed that only the Lebanese state has the right to arm itself for defensive purposes. The U.S. official said “We are proceeding with our efforts to counter Iran’s dangerous activities around the region, including the financing and activities of proxy terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah. While Lebanon has the right to defend itself, that is a right of the Lebanese state alone.” / “It is unacceptable to have a militia outside the control of the state and unanswerable to all the people of Lebanon, digging attack tunnels across the Blue Line into Israel or assembling an arsenal of over 100,000 missiles with which to threaten regional stability.” The United States, Israel’s closest ally, regards Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and has pledged to enact tougher steps to counteract Iranian influence in Lebanon. That said, Washington has also reiterated its backing for the Lebanese army and government, which includes Hezbollah representatives. Israel, which regards Hezbollah as the biggest threat on its northern border, announced on Sunday that it had completed efforts to find and destroy cross border attack tunnels dug by Hezbollah with the aim of infiltrating the Jewish state during a future war. Furthermore, outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot warned the Beirut government last week that if Iran would entrench itself militarily in Lebanon, Israel would be forced to attack.
