Report: Barrack to ask Israel to lower military pressure on Lebanon

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack has acknowledged the need to compel Israel to stop a lot of its combat operations in Lebanon and he is preparing to talk to Israel about a mechanism to rein in its combat operations and daily violations of Lebanese sovereignty, the pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper quoted two Lebanese sources as saying, one of them close to one of the three presidents (Joseph Aoun, Nabih Berri and Nawaf Salam).

Barrack “hopes to obtain from Israel a step that would help him convince the officials in Lebanon that something is changing in the Israeli conduct, which would open the door to a discussion related to Hezbollah’s arms,” the sources said.

The U.S. envoy has, however, reiterated that his country does not intend to offer guarantees regarding what Israel might decide to do, the sources added.