Lawmakers question whether the United States is moving quickly enough with Hezbollah weakened
At the opening of the session, President Mike Lawler, Republican of New York State, said that Lebanon is “at a crossroads” after the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in November 2024, considering that this moment provides an “unprecedented opportunity” to help Lebanon “free from the shackles of Iran’s malignant influence.” But he warned that progress was uneven, saying the implementation of the agreement Lebanese Armed Forces It was “random at best.”
The ranking member, Rep. Brad Sherman, Democrat of California, struck a more confrontational tone toward the administration, warning that Hezbollah is already rebuilding and that American policy risks wasting the moment.
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Travelers pass by a newly installed billboard bearing an image of the Lebanese flag and a statement reading in Arabic “Lebanon is a new era,” replacing a Hezbollah billboard, on the road leading to Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport on April 10, 2025. (Photo by Joseph Eid/AFP via Getty Images)
He said, “There is a historic opportunity in Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah and lift its grip on the Lebanese state.” “However, this window of opportunity is narrow. Hezbollah is working hard to rebuild, rearm, and reconfigure itself.”
He criticized cuts in non-security aid and faulted comments by A The Trump administration envoy who described Hezbollah As a “political party that also has a hard-line side,” he said such language “sent the wrong signals” at a critical moment.
David Schenker, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, testified that although Hezbollah has been weakened militarily, the pace of disarmament remains slow and obstructive.
People look as Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem delivers a televised speech, during a solidarity march with Iran and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, January 26, 2026. (Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
Schenker said: “The Lebanese army has a presence in the south that did not exist before November 2024.” “But they are not in control. Hezbollah still controls the area.”
Schenker said that the obstacle is no longer the ability, but rather the political will. “At this stage, the issue of disarmament is not a question of ability but of will,” he told lawmakers, warning that Hezbollah continues to thrive amid corruption and a cash-based economy.
Hezbollah members salute and raise the group’s yellow flags during the funeral of their slain comrades Ismail Baz and Muhammad Hussein al-Shahouri, who were killed in an Israeli raid on their vehicle, in Shehabiya, southern Lebanon, on April 17, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)
Even a complete surrender of weapons would not dismantle Hezbollah’s power, said Haneen Ghaddar, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Ghaddar said, “Hezbollah cannot be strong with weapons alone.” “It survives through an economic and political ecosystem that protects cash flows, penetrates state institutions and enables military reconstruction.”
She warned that Lebanon’s unregulated cash economy had become Hezbollah’s most enduring asset. “Weapons can be collected, but money is constantly flowing,” Ghaddar said. “Disarmament without dismantling the monetary economy… will not be sustainable.”
In this photo released by the Lebanese Presidency Press Office, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets with the US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, third on the left, and US Deputy Special Presidential Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus, second on the left, and US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson, on the left, at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, August 18, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency Press Office via Associated Press)
The three witnesses stressed that American support must be linked to measurable performance, such as progress in disarming Hezbollah and economic reform.
Schenker called Renewable sanctions against corrupt Lebanese officials, saying: “We must punish leaders now… who are obstructing reform.”
Dana Stroul, research director and senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, cautioned that Washington’s approach remains incomplete.
“Last year, American policy has focused “With regard to disarming Hezbollah, which is extremely important, but in itself it is only a partial strategy,” Stroll said.
She warned that the upcoming parliamentary elections could “strengthen or undermine the anti-Hezbollah government,” describing it as the “worst outcome” if politicians allied with Hezbollah retain power.
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Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike on Dahiya, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, November 25, 2024. (Bilal Hussein/AP Photo)
Ghaddar said that Hezbollah’s weakness led to a shift in Lebanese public discourse. “The myth of resistance has been shattered,” she said. “Peace is no longer taboo.”
I argued that Normalization with Israel It would raise the political cost of rearming Hezbollah and help stabilize reform. “Without a credible peace horizon, disarmament and economic reform will be temporary,” Ghaddar said. “With one horizon, they become structural.”
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