According to the official news agency for the Lebanese government, US envoy Tom Barrack has canceled his trip to southern Lebanon.
The altered trip was made on Wednesday as a result of ongoing outrage over Barrack’s recent mockery of journalists in the country and Washington’s push to disarm Hezbollah.
According to the National News Agency, Barrack was flown by helicopter to a Marjayoun, Lebanon’s army barracks where troops were stationed before his arrival on Wednesday.
However, scheduled visits to the coastal city of Tyre and the nearby town of Khiam, which were both destroyed by Israeli and Israeli hostilities, were later postponed.
The US Department of State did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on the alleged change in plans.
Since Tuesday, when he told journalists to “act civilized,” they peppered him with questions following a meeting with President Joseph Aoun in Beirut. Barrack, who is the US ambassador to Turkiye and also serves as Washington’s special envoy for Syria, has grown out of control in Lebanon.
The US envoy appeared to compare the exchange to the Middle East’s wider unrest, saying that he would stop asking questions if the situation “beginned to become chaotic, like animalistic.”
The Lebanese presidency later regretted the remarks, which were the diplomat was accused of harboring a colonial mentality by critics.
Southern Lebanon protests
A Hezbollah disarmament plan will be presented to the Lebanon’s government in the coming days, according to Barrack on Tuesday.
That was done in response to Lebanon’s cabinet’s ultimatum last month, which was done under intense US pressure and amid Israel’s threat of further military escalation.
Hezbollah continues to support the push, particularly in southern Lebanon, where it has also caused unrest. Images of protesters carrying pictures of slain fighters, Hezbollah flags, and standing near anti-US slogans scrawled on Khiam highway early on Wednesday showed them.
America was referred to as the “great Satan” in one Arabic message. Another English speaker said, “Barak is an animal.
In Tyre, protests were reported as well, with Bilal Kashmar, a representative from the union of southern municipalities, reporting that hundreds of people gathered to protest Barrack’s planned arrival and protest “biased policies” in the country.
In the wake of Israel’s subsequent military incursion into the Palestinian enclave on October 7, 2023, fighting between Israel and Lebanon grew even more severe.
In violation of the ceasefire agreement, Israel continued to bomb Lebanon nearly daily in violation of the agreement, which was reached by Israel and Hezbollah in November 2024. Israel has accused the governments of breaking the terms of the agreements.
Source: Aljazeera
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