Critical
Lebanon sends security reports simultaneously to the government AND to Hezbollah · Explosives on Dahr al-Baydar road — swept under the rug, no Judicial Council referral · Tampa: Lebanon returns empty-handed, refuses direct military coordination · Washington denies Turkish-US disarmament proposal · Reiterates: disarm Hezbollah, make peace with Israel — two steps, no third · Geagea: Army Commander reluctant to implement government decisions · A day may come when America tires of saving a country that doesn’t want to be saved
🇺🇸 Washington’s Position — Stated, Reiterated, Still on the Table
01
Disarm Hezbollah as a terrorist proxy for Iran
02
Make peace with Israel — sustainable, long-term, neighborly
The U.S. State Department also reiterated: long-term security for Lebanon and Israel, and peaceful neighborly relations based on respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity. Two steps. No third. The framework has not changed. Lebanon’s compliance has.
The question is no longer what Washington wants from Lebanon. It has stated it in the simplest and clearest terms. The real question today is: what do Lebanon’s rulers want from Lebanon? And based on everything that transpired this week — the explosives, Tampa, the dual security reports — the answer is becoming uncomfortably clear.
📋 The State Department Denial — And What It Actually Revealed
Denied: Any U.S.-Turkish proposal regarding Lebanon, or any U.S.-backed plans to change the political structure established by the Taif Agreement. The story about Berri’s alleged disarmament plan, a Shiite army commander, and weapons transfer to Iran was categorically rejected.
But the most significant aspect of the statement was not what it denied — it was what it revealed: Washington, despite everything, remains committed to Lebanon. A country whose rulers insist on pursuing a misguided and disastrous path, and a superpower that, even now, insists on rescuing it. The situation is unprecedented: elected leaders leading their country and people to their doom, and an external power attempting to alter the course.
Let’s be realistic: there is no “diplomatic solution” with Hezbollah. There might be a diplomatic solution with the Lebanese government — but only after the party is disarmed and dissolved, not before or instead. Anything else is simply buying time at the expense of the Lebanese people.
However, what transpired this week suggests that Presidents Joseph Aoun and Nawaf Salam have decided to escalate tensions with the Americans. The stubbornness at home and abroad shares a single objective: to appease Hezbollah and Nabih Berri, and to defy those trying to save us.
This Week’s Three Capitulations
⚠ Three Failures in One Week — What Lebanon’s Government Chose
01
The Explosives on Dahr al-Baydar — Swept Under the Rug
The case of a truckload of explosives belonging to Hezbollah — an organization whose military activity the government itself has deemed illegal — was evaded at yesterday’s cabinet meeting. No referral to the Judicial Council. Treated as if it were a mere traffic accident. The organization is banned in word; in action, its C4 travels the highway without consequence.
02
Tampa — Lebanon Returns Empty-Handed
At the meeting of Lebanese and American military delegations at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Lebanon refused direct military coordination and objected to the mechanism for monitoring Hezbollah’s disarmament. An extended American hand — declined. Again.
03
Security Reports in Two Versions — For Baabda and for Haret Hreik
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea revealed that, at this very moment, a Lebanese security agency is sending its security reports simultaneously to the Lebanese government and to Hezbollah. The state is briefing the armed organization it has officially banned. This is not a leak. It is policy.
🏛 Version A — Official
Baabda Palace & the Grand Serail
The Lebanese state’s security apparatus. The elected President. The Prime Minister. Institutions the Lebanese people voted for.
⚠ Version B — Also Sent
Haret Hreik — Hezbollah
An armed organization officially banned by the same government receiving Version A. Outlawed by law. Fully briefed by practice.
🎙 Samir Geagea — “It’s About Time” · What He Revealed Last Night
- The Lebanese Forces raised the issue of Army Commander General Rudolph Haykal’s reluctance to implement government decisions months ago. It was not acted on.
- The government that convened to appoint him was capable of dismissing him and appointing another. No one dared.
- What is needed is a clear political will to dismantle Hezbollah. This will is currently lacking at the highest levels.
- The state today must either prevail in the explosives issue or lose. There is no middle ground. Choosing not to act is choosing to lose.
- A Lebanese security agency is sending its reports simultaneously to the government and to Hezbollah. This is not rumor — it is confirmed fact.
“What kind of state is this that shares its security secrets with an outlawed organization? What sovereignty are they talking about when reports are written in two versions — one for Baabda Palace and the Grand Serail, and another for Haret Hreik? For Lebanon’s enemies are… its rulers.”
— Elissa El Hachem · Faith & Freedom News · MTV Lebanon
The Outstretched Hand Does Not Stay Extended Forever
Washington has made its position clear and continues to extend a hand. But an outstretched hand doesn’t remain extended forever. A day may come when America tires of saving a country that doesn’t want to be saved — and abandons the Lebanese to their fate with rulers who have chosen the mullahs and their crumbling regime over their own people.
Then we won’t need to search long for the culprit. For Lebanon’s enemies are… its rulers.
⏳ The Clock Washington Is Running
This wise governance is astonishing. A uniquely suicidal strategy, and a complete capitulation to the mullahs — carried out not by Hezbollah’s own fighters but by the elected officials of a government that has officially banned Hezbollah’s military activities. The Americans are watching. The Lebanese people are watching. How long before the outstretched hand is withdrawn?
⚖ The Verdict Is Not Washington’s to Deliver
Washington can offer a framework. It can deny false rumors. It can extend its hand at CENTCOM headquarters in Tampa. But it cannot want Lebanon’s survival more than Lebanon’s rulers do. The elected leaders of Lebanon have, this week alone, buried explosive evidence, refused coordination with their most powerful potential ally, and continued to brief an outlawed terrorist organization with the state’s own security secrets. The verdict on Lebanon will not be written in Washington. It will be written here. By the people who are supposed to govern.
Stop Leading Lebanon
to Its Own Execution.
Elissa El Hachem
Elissa El Hachem is a journalist and political writer specializing in regional affairs and governance. Former Regional Media Advisor at the U.S. State Department’s Arabic Regional Media Hub, with broad experience in strategic communication across government and private sectors. Follow on 𝕏: @elissa_hachem
