US: Billions for Lebanon rebuilding available after Hezbollah disarmament

The United States says billions of dollars could flow into southern Lebanon, but only once Hezbollah disarms.

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said on Tuesday that Washington is working with Gulf and European partners to raise "billions of dollars" for rebuilding the south and returning displaced residents. "Billions of dollars can be injected into Lebanon, but after the disarmament of Hezbollah," he said in an interview with Sky News Arabia.

Washington is also pressing ahead with contacts with Lebanon and Israel to restart negotiations between the two countries, which have been stalled since their last meetings in Rome in August, Pigott said.

"Nobody is pretending things are easy, but a historic breakthrough has been achieved," he said. Technical talks continue, he added, and the US is in regular contact with officials on both sides to move forward with a three-way agreement between the United States, Lebanon and Israel. 

Signed in June, the deal sets out a path to "lasting peace and security" between the two countries and insists on the Lebanese state's monopoly on weapons.

Asked about Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's request for a mechanism to verify Israel's withdrawal, Pigott said the issue was "already being addressed in the ongoing technical discussions." President Donald Trump and the secretary of state had held "exchanges and talks with senior Lebanese and Israeli officials," he said. 

"We are committed to supporting the capabilities of the Lebanese army."

Pigott also accused Hezbollah of financing its armed struggle with drug-related activities. "They say they don't receive money from Iran. 

Where does the money come from? They use drugs to build terrorist infrastructure, not to help anyone," he said. "Hezbollah, in its press conferences and its lying media, keeps dragging the Lebanese into conflicts and takes its orders from Tehran," he added.