Ortagus says Qassem and Hezbollah 'do not represent the Lebanese people'

Visiting U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus has said that the U.S. wants “the same thing that President (Joseph) Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and even (Speaker) Nabih Berri want, which is a strong and independent and sovereign Lebanon.”

“We don’t want Lebanon controlled by anybody but the state and its people, and I think the people who truly care about Lebanon, the people who truly care about Lebanese people are looking to strengthen the state and its institutions, and not to give power to outside forces that continue to disrupt Lebanon,” Ortagus said in an interview with the This Is Beirut news portal.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh “Naim Qassem and Hezbollah do not represent the Lebanese people, but foreign forces. They represent Iran, not the Lebanese,” she charged.

“We, the United States, seek to strengthen the Lebanese state, its institutions, the Lebanese Armed Forces, the government and all public structures,” Ortagus stated.

As for the government’s anticipated plan for the disarmament of Hezbollah and all armed groups in the country, the U.S. envoy said: “We, the United States, will do everything we can to support the Lebanese state and the Lebanese Armed Forces, both in developing this plan and, above all, in implementing it.”