US deputy special envoy for the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, concluded her meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Saturday, after arriving in Beirut on Friday for her second visit to Lebanon since US President Donald Trump took office in January. Her last visit was in February.
The president’s office said after their meeting on X that the meeting was constructive. Discussions focused on the situation in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese-Syrian border, and financial and economic reforms to combat corruption.
الاجتماع بين رئيس الجمهورية العماد جوزاف عون ونائبة المبعوث الأميركي إلى الشرق الأوسط مورغان أورتاغوس، كان بنّاءً، وتم البحث بين الوفدين، في عدد من الملفات، أبرزها:- الوضع في الجنوب اللبناني- الحدود اللبنانية-السورية – الإصلاحات المالية والاقتصادية لمكافحة الفسادوكان قد سبق… pic.twitter.com/Yksmfu5Rj6
— Lebanese Presidency (@LBpresidency) April 5, 2025
She is also scheduled to meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri regarding the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire that was signed in November, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, and the disarmament of Hezbollah, Al-Monitor reported Friday night.
Ortagus will demand that Lebanese authorities establish a clear schedule for Hezbollah’s disarmament, Al-Monitor reported, citing local reports. She is also expected to push for the beginning of talks between Israel and Lebanon on the demarcation of their border, currently marked by the blue line drawn by the United Nations in 2000.
The three Lebanese officials will reportedly outline a Lebanese position on the border demarcation and additional remaining issues between Israel and Lebanon, including the five outposts the IDF continues to operate from in Lebanon, Lebanese detainees still held in Israeli jails, and Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
Last Friday, in an interview with the Saudi al-Hadath channel, Ortagus said that the Lebanese government must eliminate groups that fire rockets on Israel and noted that Israel has the right to respond to such groups.
The interview came after Israel’s strike on Lebanon’s Beirut suburbs, after rockets were launched towards the northern Galilee from Lebanese territory.
The State Department later reiterated Ortagus’s call for the Lebanese government to disarm terrorist groups like Hezbollah, Reuters reported.
The department added that Israel was defending itself from rocket attacks that came from Lebanon.
Israeli strikes in Lebanon
Since this last interview, the IDF has struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon twice, most recently on Friday.
The IDF killed Hamas commander Hassan Farhat during a strike in Lebanon’s Sidon on Friday and killed Hassan Ali Badir, a Hezbollah and Iran Quds Force terrorist, in an overnight strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Tuesday.
Farhat was the commander of the western sector of Hamas in Lebanon. Badir was also deputy head of Hamas’s Palestinian affairs department.
On Wednesday, two US lawmakers on the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee warned the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) in a letter that it has been too slow in meeting ceasefire requirements, according to Al-Monitor.
“Any LAF hesitancy to meet the security challenges in the south would be deeply concerning and force the United States to re-evaluate its approach,” Sens. Jim Risch (R-Ida.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) reportedly wrote.
“Government control of customs, the airport, and routes in and out of Lebanon are critical to ensure Hezbollah continues to wither under a lack of resources,” the letter reportedly stated.
Under the agreement between Israel and Lebanon, Hezbollah must move its fighters and infrastructure to north of the Litani River, and the Lebanese army must increase the number of soldiers deployed in the area to ensure that Hezbollah does not rearm itself.
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