US envoy Morgan Ortagus expected in Lebanon as tensions with Israel rise

U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus is expected in Beirut on Monday for talks with Lebanese officials on disarming Hezbollah, sources familiar with her visit said, amid fears in Lebanon that Israel could launch a renewed air war on the group.

Those worries have been driven by days of intensifying Israeli strikes on Lebanon's south and east that have killed more than a dozen people, most of them Hezbollah members, according to Lebanese security sources.

Lebanon fears the bombing shows Israel intends to ramp up its air campaign, despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was intended to end a year-long war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Ortagus, the White House's deputy Middle East envoy, is expected to attend a meeting on Wednesday reviewing the Lebanese army's efforts to clear Hezbollah arms caches in the country's south, in line with the 2024 truce.

Another U.S. envoy, Tom Barrack, warned last week that Hezbollah may face a new confrontation with Israel if Lebanese authorities fail to act quickly to disarm the group in full, which Hezbollah has rejected doing so far.

Reuters