US Lawmakers Ask Biden to Prevent Hezbollah from Exploiting Lebanon’s Deteriorating Crisis

A group of US lawmakers urged President Joe Biden’s administration to take urgent steps to address the ongoing crisis in Lebanon and to prevent the situation from deteriorating further.

In a letter addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the 25 lawmakers expressed their grave concern over the deteriorating economic and political crises that are destabilizing the country and creating real and clear threats to the entire region.

Led by House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Gregory Meeks, the lawmakers made several recommendations, calling on the United States to lead a “Friends of Lebanon” group to coordinate aid to the country.

“We write to express deep concern about Lebanon’s worsening economic and political crises which are destabilizing the country and present clear risks to the broader region,” the letter read.

“We urge prompt and significant US action, in coordination with key international partners, to address the suffering of the Lebanese people and prevent Lebanon from economic collapse, posing further risks to the security and stability of the broader Middle East as well as US national security.”

The lawmakers warned that internal Lebanese actors such as “Hezbollah, along with other militias and criminal networks, and external forces such as Iran and Russia, cynically aim to leverage the fragmentation of the Lebanese state and society for their own gain.”

“Supporting Lebanon at this critical time is not only a humanitarian and economic imperative, but also a security necessity to prevent such actors from further undermining Lebanon’s independence and sovereignty,” they added.

The lawmakers urged their country to “spearhead an international ‘Friends of Lebanon’ group of like-minded partners, France prime among them, to coordinate an urgent financial assistance and reform program with the IMF and World Bank to stabilize the Lebanese economy pending formation of a government capable of addressing the needs of Lebanese citizens.”

The letter continued: “In parallel, the US along with international partners, should immediately lead a robust direct humanitarian assistance effort to address the hunger, health, and joblessness of the most vulnerable in Lebanon. This assistance must be provided directly to the Lebanese people ensuring all appropriate US laws are upheld as well as upholding all vetting standards and screening of recipients and implementing organizations.”

In addition to these proposals, the lawmakers pointed to the explosion of the Beirut port in August, and asked Blinken to publicly call for an international and independent investigation into the blast.