Pompeo warns: Hizballah’s weaponry negates solution of Lebanese crisis

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday warned France that its efforts to resolve the crisis in Lebanon would be in vain without immediately tackling the issue of Iran-backed Hezbollah’s weaponry. President Emmanuel Macron has spearheaded international efforts to set Lebanon on a new course after decades of corrupt rule. But unlike Washington, which has branded the heavily armed and politically powerful movement a terrorist group, Paris says its elected arm has a legitimate political role.

“The United States has assumed its responsibility and we will stop Iran buying Chinese tanks and Russian air defense systems and then selling weapons to Hezbollah (and) torpedoing President Macron’s efforts in Lebanon,” Pompeo told France Inter radio.