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US ‘unbelievably satisfied’ with Lebanon reply to proposal on disarming Hezbollah
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani stands next to US Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack as he raises the American flag at US ambassador’s residency in Damascus, Syria, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
A US envoy said on Monday he was “unbelievably satisfied” with Lebanon’s reply to a US proposal on disarming Hezbollah, following meetings in Beirut held hours after Israel launched new air strikes and a cross-border incursion.
Envoy Thomas Barrack’s proposal, delivered to Lebanese officials during his last visit on June 19, would see Hezbollah fully disarmed within four months in exchange for Israel halting air strikes and withdrawing troops from posts in south Lebanon they still occupy following a war last year.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Lebanon’s president on Monday, Barrack said he had received a seven-page reply, although he gave no details of its contents.
“What the government gave us was something spectacular in a very short period of time,” Barrack said. “I’m unbelievably satisfied with the response.”
Barrack, a longtime advisor to US President Donald Trump who also serves as US ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria, said he believed “the Israelis do not want war with Lebanon.”
“Both countries are trying to give the same thing — the notion of a stand-down agreement, of the cessation of hostilities, and a road to peace,” he said.
Israel crushed the leadership of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in a bombing campaign last year, one of many fronts on which it has inflicted severe blows against Iran and its allies since the start of the war in Gaza in 2023.
Hezbollah has already relinquished some weapons and withdrawn from southern areas under a ceasefire agreed last year. Israel has kept troops at five posts in southern Lebanon and continued targeting Hezbollah fighters with air strikes, saying it wants the group to pose no threat to Israel.
Hezbollah has not publicly responded to the US disarmament proposal, but its leader said on Sunday the group needed to keep some weapons to defend Lebanon from Israel. Sources have told Reuters that the group is considering shrinking its arsenal, without disarming in full.
In the hours before Barrack’s visit, Israel carried out a wave of air strikes on Lebanon’s south and east as well as a cross-border ground assault on a Lebanese border village. The Israeli escalation was seen by Lebanese officials and diplomats as an attempt to ratchet up pressure on Hezbollah.
Western countries have long said changes in the region could provide a chance for Lebanon to strengthen state institutions that have remained weak for decades in the shadow of powerful sectarian groups.
Barrack said Hezbollah needed reassurance that it would still have a future in Lebanon as a major political party.
Regional changes provided an opportunity for Lebanon, he said, noting that Syria’s new government, which took power last year after the fall of Iranian ally Bashar al-Assad, was now opening dialogue with Israel.
“The dialogue has started between Syria and Israel, just as the dialogue needs to be reinvented by Lebanon,” he said. “If you don’t want change, it’s no problem. The rest of the region is moving at Mach speed, and you will be left behind.”
The post US ‘unbelievably satisfied’ with Lebanon reply to proposal on disarming Hezbollah first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.