U.S.: Disband Hezbollah in Lebanon
Hezbollah and other armed groups in Lebanon should be disbanded with the government extending its authority throughout the country, the State Department said Thursday. Independent armed militia “are not a recipe for success and do not contribute to stability” in Lebanon, spokesman Adam Ereli said. But a former U.S. ambassador to Syria, Theodore Kattouf, said any Lebanese government that tried to disarm Hezbollah would collapse. “I think Hezbollah should be disarmed,” Kattouf said at the Nixon Center, a private research organization. “But I don’t think we should bludgeon Lebanon as its first order of business.” Full Story