BEIRUT: Morgan Ortagus, US deputy special envoy to the Middle East, caused controversy following her meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday, after making comments about militant group Hezbollah.
Ortagus, who arrived in Beirut on Thursday evening, emphasized “US commitment to strengthening close relations with Lebanon.”
However, she told reporters that she believes excitement from the Lebanese diaspora about the future of Lebanon “is largely in part, of course, because Hezbollah was defeated by Israel. And we are grateful to our ally, Israel, for defeating Hezbollah.
“But it’s also thanks to you, thanks to the Lebanese people. It is thanks to President Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam, and everyone in this government who is committed to an end of corruption, who is committed to reforms and who are committed to making sure that Hezbollah is not a part of this government in any form, and that Hezbollah remains disarmed and militarily defeated.”
She continued: “That, of course, starts with the pressure that US President Donald Trump is now placing on the Islamic Republic of Iran so that they can no longer fund their terror proxies through the region.”
Ortagus added: “We will be working again to make sure that the Islamic Republic of Iran doesn’t achieve a nuclear weapon and that they are unable to inflict chaos and harm into this country and to so many other countries around the region, which they were allowed to do for decades. That ends with President Trump.
“We’re incredibly hopeful that hope comes because we know that we have men and women of character, of resilience, of transparency. The men and women of character in this government will ensure that we start to end corruption. That we end influence from Hezbollah and that we embark on the reforms for Lebanon, that all of you, the people of Lebanon, deserve.”
Ortagus said she informed Aoun that “we don’t want to look at Lebanon as a donor country. You’re a beautiful, sophisticated country that deserves to have the most impressive businessmen and women, the most impressive businesses, companies and country from around the world investing in here. We want to get to Lebanon, back to that place where it is, the place and the hope of the Middle East. And I know we’ll get there together.”
Asked about the US stance on Hezbollah’s potential inclusion in the upcoming Lebanese government, Ortagus said: “I am certainly not afraid of Hezbollah. I am not afraid of them because they have been defeated militarily. We have set clear red lines in the US, and they will not be able to terrorize the Lebanese people, and that includes by being part of the government. The end of Hezbollah’s reign of terror in Lebanon and around the world has started, and it is over.”
The US, she said, “is committed to the Feb. 18 deadline for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon. This date is part of negotiations I had with my partner Eric Trager at the National Security Council, and with the Lebanese government and the Israeli government. Feb. 18 will be the day for redeployment, whenever the IDF troops finish their redeployment and, of course, the Lebanese troops will come in behind them. We are very committed to that firm date.”
Aoun told Ortagus that “the permanent stability in southern Lebanon hinges on Israel’s full withdrawal from the recently occupied territories and the implementation of Resolution 1701 in all its aspects, including the provisions of the ceasefire agreement that took effect on Nov. 27.”
Aoun said: “Israeli attacks must cease. The killing of innocent civilians and soldiers, the destruction of homes, and bulldozing and burning of agricultural lands must stop.” He also pointed out that “the release Lebanese hostages is an integral part of the agreement.”
He added: “The Lebanese Army is prepared to deploy in the evacuated villages and towns, and Israel must adhere to the Feb. 18 deadline for completing its withdrawal.
“Our cooperation with UNIFIL is ongoing and focused on implementing Resolution 1701, aiming to establish stability and gradually restore life to the areas liberated from occupation.
“These areas require a comprehensive reconstruction plan, including essential means of livelihood for returnees, following the extensive damage caused by Israeli aggression to crops and property.”
Aoun’s media office said that he and Ortagus discussed the formation of the Lebanese government. The president emphasized that “the consultations to form the government are nearing completion, with the goal of creating a harmonious and effective government that will meet the hopes and aspirations of the Lebanese people, as outlined in my oath speech.”
Hezbollah supporters expressed their discontent with Ortagus’s statements, gathering outside Beirut’s Rafic Harari International Airport for a sit-in to protest her remarks.
Other Hezbollah activists criticized Ortagus’s ring bearing the star of David, which was visible when she was shaking Aoun’s hand.
The US envoy subsequently headed to southern Lebanon accompanied by a US delegation. Along with a number of Lebanese Army officers, she inspected the area where the Lebanese military has been redeployed.
This is Ortagus’s first visit to Lebanon. It came in parallel with an Israeli raid on Friday afternoon on Baysarieh in the Zahrani region, north of the Litani Line, following a violent day of Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, Bekaa and the Syrian border, breaching the ceasefire agreement.
Lebanon’s National News Agency said that “the Israeli Army carried out bombings in two stages on Kfarkila.”
An explosion occurred in a house in Tayr Harfa, which witnessed the Israeli army’s withdrawal, killing two adults and several kids. According to the security bodies, it appeared that the house had been previously booby-trapped by the Israeli forces.
The Lebanese Army sent reinforcements to the Kald Al-Sabeh area in the Hermel barrens following tensions in the area, due to confrontation between the Bekaa tribes and Syrian Arab Republic forces.
Syrian personnel pushed into the villages of Al-Fadiliya, Blouza, Jermash and Hawik, to reinforce their presence in the Lebanese-inhabited Assi basin villages inside the Syrian territory.
US envoy’s anti-Hezbollah stance causes controversy in Lebanon
https://arab.news/ce4v2
US envoy’s anti-Hezbollah stance causes controversy in Lebanon

- Ortagus told reporters that she believes excitement from the Lebanese diaspora about the future of Lebanon “is largely in part, of course, because Hezbollah was defeated by Israel”
- Ortagus said she informed Aoun that “we don’t want to look at Lebanon as a donor country”
Six Syrian security personnel killed after deploying to quell sectarian clashes, source says

Sunday’s fighting between Druze militiamen and Bedouin tribal fighters was the first time that sectarian violence erupted inside the city of Sweida itself, following months of tensions in the broader province.
The fighting left 30 people dead and prompted Syria’s security forces to deploy units to the city to restore calm and guarantee safe passage for civilians looking to leave, the defense ministry said in a statement.
But intense clashes broke out again on Monday, local news outlet Sweida24 reported. At least six Syrian troops were subsequently killed, a defense ministry source told Reuters.
It marked the latest episode of sectarian bloodshed in Syria, where fears among minority groups have surged since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.
Sunni Muslim Arab rebel groups which fought Assad during the war agreed in December to dissolve into the defense ministry but efforts to integrate armed factions from minority groups — including Druze and Kurds — have largely stalled.
In southern Syria, efforts have been further complicated by Israel’s stated policy that it would not allow Syria’s new army to deploy south of Damascus and that Sweida and neighboring provinces should make up a demilitarized zone.
Interior Minister Anas Khattab said in a written statement carried on state media that the “absence of state institutions, especially military and security institutions, is a major cause of the ongoing tensions in Sweida and its countryside.”
Sunday’s violence erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida, witnesses said.
Wizz Air to exit Abu Dhabi operations

- Wizz said geopolitical instability had led to repeated airspace closures around Abu Dhabi, hitting demand
- Failure to secure the flying rights for certain routes had also meant it was unable to grow in the region
LONDON: Low-cost carrier Wizz Air said on Monday it was quitting its Abu Dhabi operation after six years to focus on its main European market, citing geopolitical instability and limited market access.
Wizz, which originally focused on central and eastern Europe but expanded into Britain, Italy and Austria, said in future it would concentrate on its much more profitable European business.
Wizz said the geopolitical instability had led to repeated airspace closures around Abu Dhabi, hitting demand, while the impact of the hot environment in the Middle East had hurt engine efficiency, making it hard to operate its low-cost model.
Failure to secure the flying rights for certain routes had also meant it was unable to grow in the region as it had hoped, the airline said.
“They just couldn’t make money out of the Middle East,” Davy analyst Stephen Furlong said.
Wizz said it will stop local flights from Sept. 1, 2025 and would be contacting customers regarding refunds.
“Supply chain constraints, geopolitical instability, and limited market access have made it increasingly difficult to sustain our original ambitions,” Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varadi said in a statement.
“While this was a difficult decision, it is the right one given the circumstances,” he added.
Wizz Air is in talks with Airbus about scaling back its order for 47 A321XLR, a longer range aircraft, and converting some of them to regular A321 jet.
“We have 47 XLRs on order. We are going to scale that back,” Varadi said.
“We have conversion rights for the majority of that of that aircraft order. So we are talking to the manufacturer.”
Iran says ‘no specific date’ for US nuclear talks

- Iran had been negotiating with the US before Israel began strikes on its nuclear facilities last month
- The US launched its own set of strikes against Iran’s nuclear program on June 22
TEHRAN: Iran said Monday it had “no specific date” for a meeting with the United States on Tehran’s nuclear program, following a war with Israel that had derailed negotiations.
“For now, no specific date, time or location has been determined regarding this matter,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei of plans for a meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff.
Iran had been negotiating with the United States before Israel began strikes on its nuclear facilities last month, which Washington later joined.
Araghchi and Witkoff met five times, starting in April, without concluding a deal, before Israel launched surprise strikes on June 13, starting a 12-day war.
“We have been serious in diplomacy and the negotiation process, we entered with good faith, but as everyone witnessed, before the sixth round the Zionist regime, in coordination with the United States, committed military aggression against Iran,” said Baqaei.
The United States launched its own set of strikes against Iran’s nuclear program on June 22, hitting the uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, in Qom province south of Tehran, as well as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz.
The extent of the damage from the strikes remains unknown.
With its own strikes, numbering in the hundreds, Israel killed nuclear scientists and top-ranking military officers as well as hitting military, nuclear and other sites.
Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on Israel, while it attacked a US base in Qatar in retaliation for Washington’s strikes.
Israel and Western nations accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has consistently denied.
While it is the only non-nuclear power to enrich uranium to 60-percent purity, close to the level needed for a warhead, the UN’s atomic energy watchdog has said it had no indication that Iran was working to weaponize its stockpiles.
Blast in residential block near Iran’s Qom, source says not Israeli attack

- The agency said the residents of the building were ordinary citizens
DUBAI: An explosion at a residential building injured seven people in the Pardisan neighborhood of Qom city, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported, going on to quote an unnamed source saying it was not the result of any Israeli attack.
“Four residential units were damaged in the blast. Initial assessments show that the cause of the incident was a gas leak, and follow-ups are continuing in this regard,” the director of Qom’s fire department told Fars.
The agency said the residents of the building were ordinary citizens.
Iran’s regional arch-rival Israel has a record of assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists, whom it considers part of a program that directly threatens Israel. Tehran maintains its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.
Since the end of a 12-day air war last month between Iran and Israel, in which Israel and the United States attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities, several explosions have occurred in Iran, but authorities have not blamed Israel.
“People should not worry about rumors (of Israeli attacks). If a hostile action occurs in the country, the news will immediately reach the people and alarm bells will simultaneously be activated in the Occupied Territories,” Fars quoted an unnamed Iranian source as saying following the blast in Qom.
Anger turns toward Washington in West Bank town mourning two men killed by settlers

- Residents of area call for stronger action from Washington
- Many residents have American citizenship, family ties to US
AL-MAZRA’A ASH-SHARQIYA, West Bank: Frustration among Palestinians grew toward the United States on Sunday as mourners packed the roads to a cemetery in the Israeli-occupied West Bank town of Al-Mazr’a Ash-Sharqiya for the burial of two men, one of them a Palestinian American, killed by settlers.
Palestinian health authorities and witnesses said Sayfollah Musallet, 21, was beaten to death, and Hussein Al-Shalabi, 23, was shot in the chest by settlers during a confrontation on Friday night.
Most of the small town’s roughly 3,000 residents share family ties to the United States and many hold citizenship, including Musallet, who was killed weeks after flying to visit his mother in Al-Mazr’a Ash-Sharqiya, where he traveled most summers from Tampa, Florida.
“There’s no accountability,” said his father Kamel Musallet, who flew from the United States to bury his son.
“We demand the United States government do something about it ... I don’t want his death to go in vain.”
Israeli killings of US citizens in the West Bank in recent years include those of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Palestinian American teenager Omar Mohammad Rabea and Turkish American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi.
A US State Department spokesperson said on Friday it was aware of the latest death, but that the department had no further comment “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones” of the victim.
Many family and community members said they expected more, including that the United States would spearhead an investigation into who was responsible.
A US State Department spokesperson on Sunday referred questions on an investigation to the Israeli government and said it “has no higher priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas.”
The Israeli military had earlier said Israel was probing the incident. It said confrontations between Palestinians and settlers broke out after Palestinians threw rocks at Israelis, lightly injuring them.
‘Betrayal’
Musallet’s family said medics tried to reach him for three hours before his brother managed to carry him to an ambulance, but he died before reaching the hospital.
Local resident Domi, 18, who has lived in Al-Mazr’a Ash-Sharqiya for the last four years after moving back from the United States, said fears had spread in the community since Friday and his parents had discussed sending him to the United States. “If people have sons like this they are going to want to send them back to America because it’s just not safe for them,” he said.
He had mixed feelings about returning, saying he wanted to stay near his family’s land, which they had farmed for generations, and that Washington should do more to protect Palestinians in the West Bank.
“It’s a kind of betrayal,” he said.
Settler violence in the West Bank has risen since the start of Israel’s war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza in late 2023, according to rights groups.
Dozens of Israelis have also been killed in Palestinian street attacks in recent years and the Israeli military has intensified raids across the West Bank.
Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war.
US President Donald Trump in January rescinded sanctions imposed by the former Biden administration on Israeli settler groups and individuals accused of being involved in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Malik, 18, who used to visit Musallet’s ice-cream shop in Tampa and had returned to the West Bank for a few months’ vacation, said his friend’s death had made him question his sense of belonging.
“I was born and raised in America, I only come here two months of a 12-month year, if I die like that nobody’s going to be charged for my murder,” he said, standing in the cemetery shortly before his friend was buried. “No one’s going to be held accountable.”