▶ 0:05:22The subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa will come to order. The purpose of this hearing is to discuss key issues for US policy towards Lebanon. This includes efforts to strengthen state institutions, advance economic reform, and ensure Hezbollah's disarmament. I now recognize myself for an opening statement. Good morning.
▶ 0:05:46I want to begin by thanking my colleagues for being here today and our witnesses for taking the time to share their insights on this critically important issue, which frankly hasn't received sufficient scrutiny. Lebanon is at a crossroads. The November 2024 ceasefire agreement that brought conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to an end has provided the international community with an unprecedented opportunity for Lebanon.
▶ 0:06:13Right now, we have the chance to help this government break free of the shackles of Iran's malign influence. Hezbollah's influence is vastly diminished, thanks in large part to decisive Israeli action. But difficult choices now need to be made to permanently block Hezbollah's path to power. The stability, sovereignty, and long-term security of Lebanon depend on the Lebanese armed forces ability to act as the sole legitimate military authority within the country.
▶ 0:06:43While the LAF has made initial progress towards ensuring Hezbollah's disarmament, implementation of the LAF's five-phase disarmament plan has been haphazard at best. Moreover, now more than ever, it is absolutely vital that Lebanon delivers on long promised economic and structural reforms, including the stipulate those stipulated by the IMF, in a real and meaningful way.
▶ 0:07:12Since 2019, Lebanon's banking sector has all but collapsed, thanks in no small part due to prolific corruption. In that same period, the country's currency, the Lebanese pound, has lost over 97% of its value relative to the dollar, leading to unprecedented This has given rise to a dollarized cash economy, one in which corruption thrives and Hezbollah's malign influence persists.
▶ 0:07:41So long as Lebanon's economy remains weak and unregulated, Hezbollah and their Iranian backers will retain access to cash flows. This will allow them to quietly rebuild their power base as well as their military arsenal that threatens the stability of the entire region. Delivering on economic and structural reforms cannot just be an option or a second thought. These are vital necessary conditions to set Lebanon on the right path free from Hezbollah influence.
▶ 0:08:12Not least because successfully implementing these reforms will open up Lebanon's ability to access muchneeded financial support from the international community, including in areas formerly under Hezbollah's control. To be clear, no one wants to see a power vacuum emerge along Lebanon's border with Israel. I think we can all recognize how important it is for the Lebanese state to step up and start to deliver basic services there.
▶ 0:08:38But reinvesting in the same failed system that enabled Hezbollah's rise would be pure insanity. We'd merely be providing Hezbollah with an open door to undermine stability across the region at the expense of Lebanon's future. The international community needs to meet the moment. We cannot lose sight of the need to ensure the government fully delivers on long pledged reforms. The stakes are too high.
▶ 0:09:04Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that American policy supports long-term stability and security across the Middle East. And that can only be achieved by closing the financial and regulatory loopholes that have allowed Hezbollah and its Iranian backers to thrive for far too long. I look forward to the day when these goals come to fruition, where Lebanon is a true partner in the Middle East, where they can join the Abraham Accords and seek normalization.
▶ 0:09:32And with that, I now recognize the ranking member for his opening remarks.
▶ 0:09:37Thank you, M. Since its founding in 1982, Hezbollah, with Iran's backing, has waged a campaign of terror against the United States, against Israel, and against the people of Lebanon that has been deeply destructive for the entire region.
▶ 0:09:54Just a year after its founding, Hezbollah per perpetrated the 1983 Beirut Marine barracks bombings, murdering 241 brave US uh service members as well as 58 French military personnel. For decades, has had to deal with this uh demunition of its own sovereignty.
▶ 0:10:19And Hezbollah has targeted Americans, Israelis, and Jewish communities abroad, such as the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenosiris, Argentina, which killed 85 innocent people. joining uh the Hamas massacre of October 7th, Hezbollah launched thousands of rockets against Israeli civilians uh bringing uh Lebanon into an unnecessary conflict.
▶ 0:10:49Uh fortunately, however, and surprising some of the leaders of Hamas, Ezah did not uh use all of its military power at the outset of the Hamas war against Israel. Hezbollah's terror campaign has contributed to the decline of Lebanon from what was once the Paris of the East to a country suffering from prolonged economic and institutional collapse. And it is the Lebanese people who paid the price.
▶ 0:11:16However, there is an opportunity for a new day in Lebanon thanks to the ITF taking out Hezbollah's arch terrorist Azan Nazalla in September of 2024 and the toppling of the Assad regime. uh the significant weakening of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the creation of a new Lebanese government. There is historic opportunity in Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah and remove its grip on the Lebanese state and particularly southern Lebanon.
▶ 0:11:47That window of opportunity, however, is narrow. Hezbollah is working hard to rebuild, rearm, and to reconstitute itself as a major terrorist organization. Yet, at a time when there is historic opportunity to solidify American security interests by weakening Hezbollah's grip on Lebanon, there is a lack of urgency and a lack of the necessary support to anti-Isbahilah actors by the Trump administration as part of dismantling the US foreign assistance program.
▶ 0:12:17Uh the Trump administration has cut non-security funding that the US is has historically provided to Lebanon. In practice, that means that instead of coordinating US support to help stabilize a government that is making progress on US interests, the administration began providing less support to Lebanon at the exact moment when this government was formed in February 2025.
▶ 0:12:41Comments by Trump administration special envoy have uh often sent the wrong signals particularly when special envoy Tom Bareric downplayed Hezbollah and described it as a political party that is also has a let me quote him exactly a political party that also has a militant aspect to it as a new Lebanese government considers necessary reforms and Lebanese armed forces make gains uh
▶ 0:13:12again toward Hezbollah uh disarmament. Uh this needs to continue and the United States must seize this historic opportunity to shore up security, economic and humanitarian assistance in support of the new Lebanese government and Lebanese armed forces.
▶ 0:13:28Such assistance of course must be contingent on continued timely progress on disarming Hezbollah and implementing necessary financial and election reforms particularly ahead of the parliamentary elections this year that could either strengthen or undermine the anti-Hzbollah government.
▶ 0:13:45Of course, all support must be tied to real progress on disarmament of Hezbollah, including uh uh going after weapons that are hidden in private residences in the south and beginning disarmament north of Leatani River. We must make no mistake, Hezbollah is aggressively working to rearm and reconstitute. The United States, Lebanon, and the region have a generational opportunity in this moment to keep Hezbollah weakened, and we should not squander that opportunity. I yield back.
▶ 0:14:16Thank you to the ranking member. Other members of the committee are reminded that opening statements may be submitted for the record. We are pleased to have a distinguished panel of witnesses before us today on this important topic. The Honorable David Shenker, the Tob Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Miss Hanin Gdar, the Freriedman Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and Miss Dana Strru, the director of research and the Shelley and Michael
▶ 0:14:46Kassen Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. This committee recognizes the importance of the issues before us and is grateful to have you here to speak with us today. Your full statements will be made part of the record and I'll ask each of you to keep your spoken remarks to five minutes in order to allow time for member questions. I now recognize Mr. Shanker for an opening statement.
▶ 0:15:13Chairman Lawler, ranking member Sherman, it's an honor to testify before you today on US policy on Lebanon and the ongoing efforts to disarm Hezbollah. Today marks the fifth anniversary of the murder of Lokman Slim. Sim was an outspoken Lebanese critic of Hezbollah, an analyst, pmicist, historian, and filmmaker who ran a US funded NGO teaching Shiite women English.
▶ 0:15:38He was assassinated in South Lebanon in 2021, almost certainly by a Hezbollah hit squad. He was a a dear friend of mine. Lokman is just one of the dozens, if not hundreds of Lebanese victims of Hezbollah. There are thousands more in Syria and many in Israel as well. Now, Israel's campaign to in 2024 to degrade Hezbollah provided Lebanon with an unprecedented opportunity to restore state sovereignty.
▶ 0:16:04President and Prime Minister Salam appear to have embraced this opportunity to end Hezbollah's decadesl long domination and to implement reforms. The November 24 ceasefire agreement is going relatively well with his permission and with intelligence information provided by Israel and the United States. The LAF has collected a lot of weapons in the south, but it took seven months for the government to make the decision to do so and the pace of disarmament is too slow.
▶ 0:16:33Hisbala is obstructing operations and there have been reports of LAF collaboration with the organization. The government and the LAF also remain extremely differential to Hzbollah. Meanwhile, Israel is filling the gap. A division of labor has emerged where Israel is targeting Hezbollah and its assets, the assets and the individuals that the LAF can't or won't. The south is not yet completed and disarmment in the north will be even more challenging given his opposition.
▶ 0:17:04LAF reticence to confront Hisvalah is understandable given that its track record of murdering Lebanese including LAF soldiers. The LAF needs salary support and continued flow of US equipment. But at this point, the question of disarmament is not a matter of capability but of will. Alas, disarmment is necessary but insufficient to end Hisbala's domination and establish state sovereignty. Hezbollah thrives amidst Lebanon's financial crisis and benefits from the state's systemic corruption.
▶ 0:17:34Economic and political reforms are urgently required to restore confidence in the banks and cretail the cash economy. The governor has made some headway, but much more needs to be done. No doubt disarmament is Washington's number one priority, but reform shouldn't be an afterthought. The state will not end his chokeold on the country without reform. To help make Lebanon great again, the Trump administration should one build a bigger international coalition against Hisbala. The EU has designated the IRGC.
▶ 0:18:03Washington should press its partners to designate the entirety of this IRGC proxy. Two, cleanse the LAF and security institutions of Hezbollah. Lebanese institutions continue to collaborate, collude, and deconlict with Hezbollah, undermining disarmament. Officials need to be removed. Three, support the LAF based on performance. Washington should stand by the LAF as it carries out its mission.
▶ 0:18:30The LAF can and should do more, but US support should be conditioned on The Division of Labor is working. Unless and until the LAF makes serious progress on disarmament, Israel will remain a partner in the disarmament project, helping Lebanon to meet its ceasefire obligations. Israel should uh if the LAF makes progress, Israel should withdraw from positions it occupies in Lebanon. Six, condition reconstruction on disarmament.
▶ 0:19:00Much of the South was destroyed during Hisbala's war on Israel, but the war isn't over yet. Premature reconstruction will undermine disarmament um and rebuilt areas are likely to be destroyed again. Seven, exclude Hisbella from the reconstruction prog process. In 2006, Hisbala exploited reconstruction to embed military assets in civilian centers. This mistake should not be repeated. Eight, don't perpetuate corruption during reconstruction.
▶ 0:19:29Inexplicably, Beirut and the World Bank are channeling reconstruction funds through the Council for Development and Construction. Nai berries egregiously corrupt organization. This is also a mistake. Um, and last, it's time to sanction Lebanese again. Washington should help Lebanon to help itself by resuming the practice of designating corrupt Lebanese and those who obstruct reform and impede progress toward reform in the state.
▶ 0:19:57Um, thank you for your time and I appreciate uh the opportunity to do and look forward to your
▶ 0:20:06Thank you, Mr. Shanker. I now recognize Miss Gdar for an opening statement.
▶ 0:20:13Chairman Loer, Ranking Member Sherman, and distinguished members of the subcommittee. Thank you very much for this opportunity. My central argument is simple. Hezbollah is not sustained by weapons alone. It survives through an economic and polit political ecosystem that protects cash flows, penetrates state institutions, and enables military rebuilding. Even in a best case scenario where Hezbollah were to surrender all its weapons tomorrow, the group would still retain the capacity to rebuild from scratch.
▶ 0:20:44As long as its ties to Iran remain intact, and as long as its ecosystem of power endures, Hezbollah will survive, regenerate, and rearm. Today, Hezbollah is operating in a survival mode. Despite severe losses, it has not collapsed because it has redirected its efforts toward protecting the financial and political systems that generate money and immunity. The most important of these systems in is Lebanon's cash economy.
▶ 0:21:11Since the country's financial collapse in 2020, the banking sector has been replaced by an unregulated cash-based financial system dominated by money services exchange houses, and informal transfer networks. This transformation has fundamentally altered the counterterrorism landscape. Cash is harder to trace, easier to launder, and far more difficult to regulate than the formal banking system Hezbollah once relied on. Hezbollah and Iran have fully exploited this environment.
▶ 0:21:42Funds generated abroad from oil sales, front companies and private networks are moved through the exchange houses and informal systems and then injected into Lebanon effective oversight. The same at the same time, Hezbollah benefits from their proliferation of domestic cash businesses and commercial fronts that blend illicit activity with legitimate commerce. In this environment, terrorism financing becomes indistinguishable from the broader economy and accountability collapses.
▶ 0:22:12This cash ecosystem is reinforced by institutional capture. Hezbollah and its allies continue to secure key appointments inside the institutions that affect borders, customs, security, and public spending. As a result, disarmament efforts face a structural problem. Weapons can be collected, but money keeps flowing. Disarmament without dismantling the cash economy and the institutional shield around it will not be durable. It will simply buy time. On disarmament, Lebanese leaders have articulated the right principle.
▶ 0:22:43A state monopoly on arms, but words are not strategy. The absence of a timeline beyond the initial phase south of Leitani has produced a de facto freeze. The Lebanese armed forces will not initiate confrontation and will not voluntarily disarm without external pressure and incentives. the process could stall.
▶ 0:23:02The United States has leveraged to change this dynamic by requiring the Lebanese government and the LAF to sub submit a plan for the rest of the phases with clear deadlines, objectives, and deliverables. Also, thei the US security assistance should be delivered promptly but sequenced with additional support tied to concrete progress south north of Lethani. At the same time, the United States should treat Lebanon's economy as a national security battlefield.
▶ 0:23:31Treasury advisories and sanctions should escalate against money service businesses and individuals facilitating Hezbollah's cash network. Reform pressure must extend to include custom authorities, unreformed state entities such as the Council of the South, which is responsible for reconstruction, and the judiciary. Impunity remains Hezbollah's greatest political asset.
▶ 0:23:54As the 2026 parliamentary elections approach, Hezbollah will seek to delay disarmament, suppress dist descent, and block mechanisms that threaten its dominance. Targeted sanctions and diplomatic pressure against those who use violence, obstruct reforms, and undermine electoral integrity are essential. Finally, the United States should recognize that peace between Lebanon and Israel is not separate from this effort. It is what sustains it over time.
▶ 0:24:22Hezbollah's military defeat has shattered the mythology of resistance. The idea of peace is no longer taboo. Peace raises the political cost of rearmament, strengthens state legitimacy, unlocks economic recovery, and deprivives Hezbollah of its cordurous justification. Without a credible peace horizon, disarmament and economic reform will be temporary. With one, they become structural.
▶ 0:24:47In short, dismantling Hezbollah's economic ecosystem is key to sustainable disarmament, and peace is what locks it in. Lebanon is closer to that moment that many may assume, but only if US policy is firm, comprehensive, and willing to raise the cost of obstruction. Thank you. I look forward to your questions.
▶ 0:25:08Thank you, Miss Gdar. I now recognize Miss Strru for an opening statement. Thank you, Chairman Lawler, Ranking Member Sherman, and members of the committee. I could not agree more with your opening statements about the historic and timelmited opportunity that the current situation in Lebanon represents for the United States and regional engagement. To take a broader scope, there are multiple shifts at the regional and state level that have converged to create this opportunity.
▶ 0:25:37First, as you heard from my colleagues, Hezbollah is profoundly weakened. The group no longer impose imposes a strangle hold on Lebanon's sovereignty, but the process of disarming the Iranbacked terror group is incomplete and insufficient without addressing the political, social, and economic system within which Hezbollah has thrived. Second, the Iranian regime is profoundly weakened.
▶ 0:26:01It cannot currently sustain the regional ecosystem in which its proxies like Hezbollah and others have undermined Arab governments specifically in Lebanon and held back the Lebanese people from realizing their own aspirations for sovereignty. And third, there is promising leadership in Beirut under the leadership of President Joseph Aun and Prime Minister Noaf Salam. government formed in early 2025 is saying the right things and doing some of the right things.
▶ 0:26:32This should be vigorously encouraged while demanding more. For the past year, US policy has focused on Hezbollah disarmament, which is critical, but on its own is only a partial strategy. In order to consolidate the gains from Hezbollah's weakness, the United States must broaden its engagement beyond the security file.
▶ 0:26:53Importantly, we must do more to engage other governments meddling in Lebanon's messy politics ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections and offering assistance without conditions. Briefly, I want to make a series of recommendations with my remaining time on security assistance. US polic policy to support the laugh with funding and equipment should continue but with conditions.
▶ 0:27:19The laugh have made important progress in implementing the first p first phase of the ceasefire. Now that work must be accelerated. Hezbollah is rebuilding. Increasing its indigenous weapons production and its illicit regional networks still exist. There are two near-term opportunities to underscore US focus on Hezbollah's disarmament while supporting the laugh.
▶ 0:27:45First is the visit this week of the laugh commander Rudolph Hikel and second is the French hosted conference in early March. The message should be that the United States has expectations for the last performance and transparency. Continued assistance is important but not assured without continued performance. Second, on elections, the US must do more than insist that elections take place on time.
▶ 0:28:11Signaling US interest in a parliamentary outcome that demonstrates a break with the pre-occtober 7th governmental paralysis is critical. The worst case outcome would be a parliamentary makeup that leaves in place Hezbollah affiliated politicians. In the absence of visible leadership on this issue, the risk is the internationalization of Lebanon and counterproductive external meddling.
▶ 0:28:36The United States should make clear it will not support a government that does not prioritize the needs of all Lebanese and fails to back the the mandate of Lebanon's president to bring all weapons under state control. on reconstruction. It is time to articulate our expectations for US support that expands beyond the security file.
▶ 0:28:59Washington should pair concrete steps on Hezbollah's disarmament with support for reconstruction, quick impact projects, and longerterm livelihood programs to assure an inclusive poses future. Without something tangible on the table from the United States, we are seeding influence to others and risk re-empowering ministries and local government that are still under Hezbollah influence. And finally, leadership.
▶ 0:29:27If the current president of Syria, Ahmed Alshara, a former US military detainee from Iraq and formerly designated al-Qaeda affiliate, can be hosted in the White House with a warm embrace. Surely we can find time for President Aoon. Signaling US support for President Aoon this year is important if we want to see progress and further reform.
▶ 0:29:49And finally on Israel, this is a government who is sincere in wanting to m maintain dialogue and move forward toward eventual peace with Israel. This is something that the United States plays a continual continuous and important role in and should encourage. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Stru. I would like to ask unanimous consent to enter testimony from the president of the American Lebanon Peace Advancement Council into the record. So ordered.
▶ 0:30:19I now recognize myself for five minutes of questioning. Uh in recent months, there's been optimism about Lebanon joining the Abraham Accords in the future. uh what needs to happen before this can be a real conversation conversation. Miss thank you. So there are a number of steps that can be done while Lebanon and Israel start a dialogue.
▶ 0:30:49One of the one of the main things that needs to be done today, there is a basically easing Lebanon's entire normalization law which is basically bans dialogue between Lebanon and Lebanese and Israeli citizens. This one at least in practice would matters because they criminalize people-to-people contact and protect Hezbollah's forever war narrative.
▶ 0:31:11In order to reach a point where people can actually start conversing freely about peace, we need to start looking at this law. And one way of doing it, the United States should apply both pressure and incentives to encourage restraint in enforcement and open space for civic engagement, economic integration, and regional normalization.
▶ 0:31:32One of the tools that can be used is re make sure that the theah and its allies in the state institutions do not actually use this law and use uh uh all the punitive tools including sanctions against everyone in the judicial system that would enforce the anti-normalization law. There are many things that can be discussed between Lebanon and Israel as uh disarmament continue.
▶ 0:31:57uh uh one of one one of them is economic cooperation which is today a big discussion in Lebanon when the Trump administration mentioned the economic zone uh in south of Lebanon uh on the border between Lebanon and Israel. This is a big opportunity that can lead also to this kind of uh uh agreement.
▶ 0:32:15Miss Gdar, the the Treasury Department has reported that the IRGC has transferred over 1 billion to Hezbollah since January 2025. What are the primary means by which Hezbollah and its Iranian backers maintain access to these cash flows? Uh, and what role do unrelated or unlicensed money exchanges and exchange companies in Lebanon play in sustaining Hezbollah's illicit financial networks?
▶ 0:32:43Yes, thank you very much for this question. Hezbollah has been working very hard on its economic infrastructure and the cash economy. Um the estimation in general of the cash economy after the collapse of 2022 is around $18 billion dollars. Not all of it as Hezbollah or illicit financing but it is it constitutes a big uh a good infrastructure for Hezbollah to move store and store money and make money.
▶ 0:33:11So they use this economy, the cash economy which is basically the the the only economy functioning in Lebanon today uh in order to uh bring money from abroad especially that the customs in Lebanon are still not very much monitored. They have a lot of their allies appointed in very high rank custom uh and border appointments. They and uh um they they ease smuggling from Syria to Lebanon from all points of entries.
▶ 0:33:39The airport today is very much monitored but the ports are not. So customs is a very big uh big thing here. It's very important to note also that Hezbollah runs a lot of businesses including construction, telecommunications, gas stations, supermarkets, pharmaceutical se sectors and they also use a lot of cash companies that are uh there are four cash companies uh maybe more now that have replaced 60 banks in Lebanon.
▶ 0:34:09Some of them have informal uh deals with the Lebanese government and some of them have licenses but they are not monitored. These companies should be more monitored. There should be observation. There should be some kind of treasury uh obser treasury warnings at least before sanctions to these company to make sure that Hezbollah cannot use them because this is where they're making and moving their money. So this is one of the things that can be
▶ 0:34:34Thank you. Mr. Shanker, how would you characterize the Lebanon armed forces overall performance in 2025? And do you agree with the LAF's assertion that is it has established total control south of the Latani River?
▶ 0:34:49U thank you chairman. Um the LAF has not established total control of the south of Lebanon. Um it has a presence in Lebanon that it didn't have prior to November 2024, let's say 7 months after that. Um it is now present. Um, and it is, as I say, um, responsive to tasking.
▶ 0:35:14When the mechanism informs the LAF of intelligence information about where weapons may be, arms caches, um, things it should check out, it responds. Um, but it does not respond when it is obstructed. So, often times groups of of women will be brought out to prevent the LAF from going into a site. they'll come back, the weapons will be gone. Um, so they are present. Um, but they are not in control.
▶ 0:35:42Um, as well as still controls the region. And frankly, um, the LAF has not met, um, what the president promised in the beginning of the ceasefire that there would be 10,000 LA troops in the south. There should probably be even more given the nature of the to
▶ 0:36:00to that to that end. What is your assessment of their capacity and political will to pursue Hezbollah's disarmament in this area?
▶ 0:36:08There there are something like 75,000 men and women under arms in the LA. Granted, they are underpaid. The currency has been devaluated 95 97%. Um they have equipment, they have arms. Hisbala has been degraded. This is not a matter of capability, right? They need support, salary support, um fuel, etc. operating costs. Um but they have weapons, they have individuals.
▶ 0:36:34Sentcom long ago classified the LAF as pound-for-pound the best um best Arab army, the soldier for soldier. Um what they're lacking is um to a large degree uh until now the political will. Um, and this is risky because they have been threatened with clashes, attacks.
▶ 0:36:56Um, and of course, six LAF soldiers were killed near the very beginning of the the start of this campaign to disarm them with a with a a booby trap by Hisbala. So, um, understandably reticent, but um, this is the nature of of the business. When you're in government, you have to take these tough decisions.
▶ 0:37:14Okay, my time has expired. I now recognize the ranking member, Mr. Sherman for about seven minutes.
▶ 0:37:22Uh, Hezbollah perfected uh, cash smuggling, informal financial uh, transactions over decades. But we are in a new decade where cryptocurrency also can fill this role. To what extent is Hezbollah using uh cryptocurrency uh to deal with its money laundering and financial transactions? Thank you.
▶ 0:37:50Uh to my information, they definitely are using cryptocurrency in Lebanon. They're focusing a lot on cryptocurrency because they understand that most of the pressure is coming today on the cash flow, their cash flow, and especially that their cash flow has been affected today by uh uh the the the you know they lost Syria, they're losing Venezuela, they're afraid they're going to lose Iran.
▶ 0:38:18So there's a lot of cash flow c hard currency flow that they're not getting anymore and they're worried about uh you know they did they might have gotten 1 billion this year but 1 billion is definitely not enough for uh this group in order to not only pay salaries and provide benefits but also provide compensation and rent uh for those who lost their homes and also to for deconstruction.
▶ 0:38:48So the cash is not
▶ 0:38:49And I might add and graft for the for the top leaders as well, isn't it?
▶ 0:38:54Yes. Absolutely.
▶ 0:38:54Expensive part of Hezbollah's operation. Absolutely. I'm going to interrupt you there. I don't know if the other witnesses have anything more specific to say about crypto. So I'm going to go on to uh uh Mr. Shear. uh uh Representative Tenny and I have been uh leading an effort here in Congress that is uh to try to push Europe to designate the Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.
▶ 0:39:23Uh we've long championed that. Uh there are others who have of course pushed the EU and it looks like that will happen. Uh France has taken uh an interest in Lebanon for well over a century and played a a substantial role in Lebanon for uh well over a hundred years.
▶ 0:39:44Uh do you see any potential to build on the momentum of the EU designating the IRGC and get France to change its policy and designate all of Hezbollah, not just the military wing, as a terrorist Thanks for the question.
▶ 0:40:02Um, [snorts] Representative Sherman, um, you know, France has long viewed Hisbala as having two wings, the political wing and the military wing, and and this is a useful carveout for their engagement with Lebanon. Um, to be fair, that same formulation is what Tom Barack, the special envoy of the administration has used, right?
▶ 0:40:28and he said it's a political party as he said earlier with a militia or with a a militant element. Um no this is you know this is a terrorist organization. Um it's a bird. It needs both wings to fly right. Um and so whether France will go in that I think it's going to be a stretch for them. Um for me it's obvious.
▶ 0:40:53Um but France likes to have I think all doors open with Lebanon and this would close off doors for them. Um certainly and perhaps ultimately like Americans put their people on the ground at risk. Um so I don't think they're they're going to be so inclined to take that step.
▶ 0:41:16M Stroll uh what tools does the US have to incentivize uh faster, more aggressive action on Hezbollah disarmament uh from the Lebanese government and armed forces.
▶ 0:41:36Thank you for the question. So the United States has a variety of tools. The one that it has relied on for years before October 7th and now with the ceasefire is security assistance both uh security aid like FMF equipping training and the draw down presidential draw downs of US military equipment to support the LAF.
▶ 0:41:56It can also support the disarmament process through providing actionable intelligence uh through working through the US military mechanism with significant uh leadership to both verify the steps the LAF have taken and validate when certain steps are not taken um which as you know with the uh November 2024 ceasefire there's a side agreement where the United States acknowledged that Israel would continue to take military action in Lebanon.
▶ 0:42:26even though there was a ceasefire if it saw concerning Hezbollah activity which has continued to this day and again there the US military role is quite important. I'm
▶ 0:42:36going to try to sneak in one more question. Uh can any of our witnesses identify specific additional sanctions measures including secondary sanctions on financial entities uh that would target Hezbollah's financial networks? any any specific advice on additional
▶ 0:42:59Yes, absolutely. On the uh in addition to the financial companies that I mentioned before uh that are helping Hezbollah with the cash flow uh there are definitely uh additional sanctions that need to be made especially in the judicial system. Hazbah has been doing what it needs to be done because it has immunity because it has never been held accountable whether for assassinations, money laundering, illicit activities, drug production, you name it.
▶ 0:43:28Today, for example, the biggest drug dealer in Lebanon, Nazer has been released and the government didn't do anything to keep him. They have been never held accountable in Lebanon. Judiciary system definitely needs to be targeted with sanctions. There are certain judges that needs to be targeted and the only way to have to to to stopah is to hold them accountable for their crimes.
▶ 0:43:53Thank you. I yield back.
▶ 0:43:55Thank you. The ranking member, I now recognize Representative Zinci for five
▶ 0:44:01Thank you. Uh we talked about we talked about Hezbollah. Talk to me about the Muslim Brotherhood. How influential is the Muslim Brotherhood? And uh David, if you'd if you'd uh certainly u Lebanon was pleased with the US designation of the Muslim Brotherhood in the in the north of Lebanon.
▶ 0:44:22Um this is an increasingly important actor um and believed to be um backed in part um by Turkey um but Qatar as well. Um they
▶ 0:44:36so the money would go from Qatar to Turkey and then distributed. Is that a fair assessment?
▶ 0:44:41I believe so. Um, in any event, they've not done particularly well on the the nationwide um elections uh in Lebanon historically. Um, and even in municipal elections. Um, but they're making appear to be making slow but steady progress and gaining adherence.
▶ 0:45:03yeah, I agree totally with David. Turkey and Qatar play a very bad role in Lebanon in terms of supporting Muslim Brotherhood. And I what what I would add to that is that before even October 7 and we witnessed this during the war between Israel, the Muslim Brotherhood branch in Lebanon which is called Jamaal Islamia has fought with Hezbollah during the war against Israel.
▶ 0:45:25So today they are seeing them, Hezbollah sees the Muslim Brotherhood in Lebanon as a strategic ally and I will not be surprised if they uh join them or strategically align with them during the next parliamentary elections because they need more allies. Uh and and uh today the Muslim Brotherhood in Lebanon that specific branch during their last internal elections uh the senoir basically the Hamas branch won and this is what drives them today.
▶ 0:45:54They I would say that the Muslim Brotherhood in Lebanon, that branch specifically is Hamas uh Lebanese uh the Lebanese Hamas branch and it's very it's a very dangerous phenomenon. I'm very glad that you asked about this because it's evolving and they're getting stronger with the money that is flowing in and
▶ 0:46:13I would add this is why I think more US attention is needed or the risk is the internationalization of external meddling in Lebanon. So what we've seen in the past year is significant announcements of financial assistance for reconstruction from the government of Qatar. We've seen more Turkish involvement in Lebanon and others. But this is without conditions and without the United States putting anything on the table other than security support for the laugh.
▶ 0:46:40So while very important, we need to broaden and expand our engagement in Lebanon and either in order to counter these concerning trends and developments. And second question, should there be a regime change in Iran, uh how would that affect uh Lebanon? Well, regime change in in Iran would change everything in Lebanon. Lebanon is a country that has been occupied by Iran since the mid80s.
▶ 0:47:10um the a proxy army of Iran has dominated the country's politics and made decisions of war and peace and murdered um countless numbers of Lebanese citizens over these years. Um without the support, the ideological support, the financial support, um the provision of of weapons, um Hezbollah would be cut down to size. Now Hezbollah is entrepreneurial, right?
▶ 0:47:39They they sell captagon. They have car dealerships. They have economics. They have foreign supporters who send them money. Um Iran has been the key node. And without this regime, um Hezbollah wouldn't disappear, but it would wither on the vine. Do
▶ 0:47:57you share that same assessment?
▶ 0:48:00I do because I believe also that uh Hezbollah is not just another proxy of Iran in the region. It's not like the Iraqi Shia militias. Hezbollah is actually part of the KUS force which is part of the IRGC. It is really a an organic part of it. So when something changes there, Hezbollah will immediately and directly be affected before other proxies.
▶ 0:48:22They do have their own sources of funding that I talked about earlier, but the impact would be one on their arms definitely, but two, I think it would also reverberate very very directly to the Shia community, which is today their main strength in Lebanon.
▶ 0:48:40If you if the Shia community today wakes up tomorrow with a big regime change in Iran and Hezbollah totally weakened even if it's still present this will impact the elections the upcoming parliamentary elections and then we can see some kind of independent non-Hzbollah uh uh uh penetration in the uh parliament otherwise if the Iranian regime does not fall and nothing really changes might be able with the presence of their arms and their ties to the regime regime
▶ 0:49:10to win all 27 Shia seats in the next parliament which is very very dangerous if it continues. It's as if October 7 didn't happen as if the war didn't happen. So this is very very
▶ 0:49:22I yield. Thank you.
▶ 0:49:25Thank you, Representative Zinci. I now recognize Representative Vlatimer for five minutes.
▶ 0:49:30Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh in deference to the time and my other colleagues, one very uh simple question and I'd like each of you to answer it. Can you identify two or three specific things that you'd like to see the United States do to address this?
▶ 0:49:46Sorry to to address this problem. One or two two or three specific things that we can do United States government to address the problem that you've
▶ 0:49:55Yeah, I think first uh condition the funding right to actually really press and set benchmarks for LAF performance. Um, Lebanon has a a tendency to um kick the can down the road, defer difficult decisions. Um, they did so with disarmment in the south. I I fear they will do so in the north and every day. Um, Hezbollah continues to its attempts to rearm. It's it's necessary to have some sort of timeline of benchmarks um with this.
▶ 0:50:26Um the other um is to goodness. Um I think that would be a good start. Um it's always hard to go first. Um but uh no uh listen I think um uh the conditioning of the funding is most important.
▶ 0:50:49I think um it's also important to really I think clean house within the LAF um and the other security forces in the country. um you know his this armament is being disrupted um by uh collaborators by uh collusion by uh deconliction um uh it's hard enough to do this work without being undermined from the inside and I think um
▶ 0:51:19the US um has insight into the LAF Israel has insight into the LAF and the LAF should take it upon itself I'm not talking about bathication here. Um, what I'm talking about is actually
▶ 0:51:32with no disrespect intended, I want to make sure everybody answers it. I have no other questions in my five minutes. So, we have condition funding and clean up the LAF.
▶ 0:51:41Thank you.
▶ 0:51:42Same question.
▶ 0:51:43Yes. Yeah. For everybody.
▶ 0:51:44So, in I agree with David definitely. I would add three more which is the financial uh warnings and sanctions that I talked about earlier. definitely uh issue for the treasury to issue advisories and sanctions against corrupt politicians uh cash companies that are helping with the cash flow etc etc. It's all in my written testimony. Uh I can go further later, but to to to to make sure I go to the second one, the judiciary reform.
▶ 0:52:11For me, this is one of the most important reforms that can be made in Lebanon because one, it holds accountable. uh uh if if the judiciary is reformed then the judiciary system in Lebanon can hold accountable, protect dissident and free speech and make sure that those who are helping with their uh shadow economy are held accountable.
▶ 0:52:35But last but not least, it's a there's a very rare opportunity in Lebanon today to make sure uh very rare opportunity today to actually start the peace process between Lebanon and Israel and for Lebanon to join the Abraham Accords because one, it is ready. Everyone in Lebanon want to end war and that's the only way to sustain uh a ceasefire for for a very long term. And the Lebanese street is ready.
▶ 0:53:01peace is no longer taboo and there will be some descent but I would say it's a rare opportunity and people should start thinking about starting this process between Lebanon and Israel. It's it's it's important to do it now.
▶ 0:53:15Okay. Just so I summarize this is how we leverage our funding to accomplish each of these bullets that you've mentioned. It's our leveraging of funding that you're advocating for to make these things happen. in what little time I have left. Uh men
▶ 0:53:30two two uh different comments from my colleagues. The first is [clears throat] we uh risk locking ourselves in a trap of no reconstruction until disarmament is complete of Hezbollah. I think we in the United States can be more nuanced in our policy approach here. If we do not proactively articulate the conditions and what reconstruction, our role and our support package would look like. There's no reason for the Lebanese people to expect more from us.
▶ 0:53:58And the risk is that they think we are only focused on Hezbollah's disarmament. So we don't need to pledge assistance and start transferring transferring it now. But we can articulate the conditions and our expectations for what our support for reconstruction, our advocacy with international financial institutions and our willingness to convene other external actors that are also interested in Lebanon's reconstruction. And secondly, um, expand the US policy team.
▶ 0:54:25We've had a rotation of different US uh, senior envoys, all of which have done very important work. The current US ambassador in Beirut, Michael Issa, is doing very important work. But what we need right now is technical assistance experts, diplomats, the very people that are not working and empowered to do their jobs in the State Department and the dismantled US agency for international development.
▶ 0:54:48Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield. Thank you, Representative Latimer. I now recognize Representative Schneider for five
▶ 0:54:56Uh, thank you, uh, Chairman. I want to thank the witnesses for being here. It's good to see the Washington Institute so well represented. Uh, m Mr. Shanker, in your opening remarks, you you noted that um I think what you said exactly is perhaps expectations were too high, but the first year of the administration was a disappointment. Uh my first question for the panel is uh despite the disappointments are there still reasons for optimism?
▶ 0:55:24U yeah I've got a quick answer that yes I think there are reason for optimism. Lebanese are um resilient people and they've got a team in place um that is unusual um actually unprecedented not corrupt um at the highest levels um committed to reform westernoriented um and understand that this opportunity may be fleeting this is unusual and
▶ 0:55:55it may it may be very fleeting because we have elections that I'm going to come back to that's that's that's where I'm going. Uh Miss Gdar,
▶ 0:56:03definitely 100% more than any time before because simply that internally as my colleague David said that there are certain people that you can work with. Uh the new government is definitely uh not ideal. There are so many mistakes that they've done, but it's better than the ones before it. So it is it's it's a government that can be that you can work with the president as well. It's someone that you can work with.
▶ 0:56:29But again there should be communication, direct communication, clear communication. As my colleague Dana said, this is very important. Two, the region is changing. The uh links that had with through Syria uh today in Iran and Venezuela is changing. they are losing every day a bigger big ally economic ally political allies and they are losing allies in Lebanon as well. So definitely it's an opportunity if we use it.
▶ 0:56:59Mr. True.
▶ 0:57:01Absolutely. uh as a um longtime follower of US policy toward Lebanon to imagine a situation in which Hezbollah is so weakened politically, economically and from a security perspective and we have a willing partner in the political leadership in Beirut who is saying the right things and working to do the right things on dis disarmament contemplating publicly the potential for peace with Israel.
▶ 0:57:26This is not any policy opportunity that before October 7th we could have imagined. Tremendous reason for hope.
▶ 0:57:34So I'm going to try to frame what's really a statement in to the form of a question. But you know we've defined as you said there's this moment there's reasons for optimism but the moment could be fleeting. And so are there ways that we can create guard rails to keep them focused on the moment to provide stepping stones to help them get to where they need to go?
▶ 0:57:55Uh to identify milestones so we can measure progress along the way and to put back stops so they don't fall back to where they were but we keep helping them move forward. Um that's my broad question and I've got a minute 50 second left. Maybe I'll go the other direction. Uh Mr. Absolutely. The US policy approach should be a combination of incentives tied with conditions for performance uh and and transparency.
▶ 0:58:22So a lot of the announcements we see from the laugh right now are number of houses clear number of of weapon sees these sorts of issues important but not that is not the only benchmark for performance. We should be looking at what happens to the weapons once they're disposed of. What are we doing to dry up the illicit networks of support? What are we doing to stop the rebuilding? But beyond the security file, um what are our expectations for the reform agenda with this current government in Beirut?
▶ 0:58:50What are our expectations for a free, fair, and credible electoral cycle? What are our expectations for reconstruction that does not reempower corrupt Hezbollah affiliated institutions in Lebanon?
▶ 0:59:01Miss Gdar,
▶ 0:59:03very briefly, I'm not going to repeat what my colleagues said and I agree with them 100%. It's very important to look even within the security uh apparatus there are certain things that needs to be monitored as well including b points of entry border control uh in addition to the airport the port the borders with Syria needs to be demarcated which isn't hasn't happened yet uh there are a lot of smuggling happen happening uh the cash economy is not monitored uh these are things that not are are not
▶ 0:59:33very difficult to to handle but you need to have a strategy in place and uh I can go into details but it's all in my written testimony. You can look at that.
▶ 0:59:42Thank you. And uh Mr. Shanker, last
▶ 0:59:44Three three quick points. One, we we should be sanctioning leaders right now. There is a sense of urgency. Leaders that are in parliament elsewhere who are obstructing reform, they should be sanctioned. Period. um we should be looking at the electoral law, talking with Lebanese about um how they're four or eight million Lebanese who are living abroad.
▶ 1:00:09Um and that that will have a real impact on whether this government stays or whether whether it goes or whether we go back to business or you as usual. Um finally, um in this period of time when money is flowing into Lebanon, they just passed their budget. um we should really be um quite critical of providing uh the provision of funding to the same old corrupt organizations that we know are corrupt. This is not helping matters.
▶ 1:00:37Uh thank you. I I appreciate the extended time. I yield back.
▶ 1:00:40Gentleman's time has expired. I now recognize Representative Kaine for 5
▶ 1:00:45Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our distinguished witnesses for being here today. Stability in Lebanon is critical to safety and security throughout the eastern Mediterranean. As Iranbacked Hezbollah maintains a stronghold in Lebanon, it is crucial that the United States examine various means to continue dismantling Hezbollah.
▶ 1:01:09I look forward to hearing from our witnesses regarding how America can most effectively partner with our allies throughout the east middle eastern Mediterranean to dismantle Hezbollah and to secure peace in the Middle East. Mr. Hezbollah has long been a proxy of Iran, targeting America's ally, Israel, in the Middle East.
▶ 1:01:30In your testimony, you stated that Israel is filling an important gap, preventing Hezbollah from rearming and targeting militia locations and personnel the LAF deems too sensitive to engage. Can you share how the partnership between Israel and the Lebanese armed forces is critical to dismantling Hezbollah?
▶ 1:01:52Um, absolutely. Um, they are critical. Israel is the work that Israel is doing. um Lebanon would look a whole lot different without what's happening now, what has happened since the ceasefire. There hasn't really been a ceasefire. There's been a less fire, right? A more concentrated uh targeting uh by Israel and there's and the Lebanese armed forces is doing work, but they're just not going to be able to do all the work.
▶ 1:02:22Um and so while I think many in the government of Lebanon complain um about this um I think me I know that many quietly in the security apparatus of Lebanon the military are very pleased that this is happening um and this can continue indefinitely. I hope it doesn't have to.
▶ 1:02:41Miss Garter, the 3+1 partnership between the United States, Israel, Greece, and the Republic of Cyprus is an important alliance in efforts to counter terrorism across the eastern Mediterranean. the American Hellenic Israel Eastern Mediterranean Counterterrorism and Maritime Security Partnership Act, which I I co-led with bipartisan colleagues, recognizes the importance of working with American partners such as Greece, Cyprus, and Israel
▶ 1:03:12to counter terrorism. How do you believe the 3+1 partnership can be best be leveraged stabil to bring stability to the region and counterbal?
▶ 1:03:24Thank you very much. Uh this is definitely have been a very good partnership in terms of not only in terms of economic partnership but in sec terms of security and I remember at one point you know itself started attacking Cyprus itself because of this alliance between Israel and Cypress knowing that Cypress have been doing both legal uh and security measures against Hzbollah. Uh Cypress has been a victim also of Hzbollah's terrorist activities. There've been some some some issues there.
▶ 1:03:54So this partnership has been very very important. Hazbah tried to use Cyprus as uh for its terrorist aggravity activities and this alliance stopped it. So I believe at one point you know like we're moving this is this is a moving topic. This is not something that is done. This is this is evolving every day and I believe that there will be more escalation if Hezbollah is not disarmed.
▶ 1:04:16If the Lebanese armed forces, Lebanese government did not uh initiate, you know, a serious measures again when it comes to disarmament, Israel, Israel will probably escalate. Israel might have another war with Hezbollah. There might we might see a different kind of ceasefire agreement. And these allies in the Meditaran are key in securing this agreement. So in your testimony you spoke uh about Hezbollah's efforts to empower the cash economy in Lebanon.
▶ 1:04:47What mechanisms should the United States pursue to disable the cash economy that's funding Hezbollah?
▶ 1:04:53Okay. So uh the only entity in Lebanon today's that is addressing this in terms of issuing circular circulars that are actually reg trying to regulate this cash economy is the central bank. But the central bank alone cannot do everything. Lebanon's government needs to have a very clear strategies when it comes to cash economy. So far they are pushing reforms within the framework of the IMF but the IMF reforms are very technical.
▶ 1:05:22They do not have a bigger socioeconomic political uh strategy that addresses the root of the issue. It's much more technical and it's targeted against a certain part of these of these reforms. I think the Lebanese government should be pressured to have more an overarching uh reforms financial reform sector including uh for I'll give you just one quick example. The Council of the South has been getting funding from the Lebanese government for reconstruction.
▶ 1:05:52The Council of the South is the most corrupt Lebanon's entity which has been getting money for reconstruction. It's the only entity that has no oversight. This is an this is an example of how to re regulate the funding from the government and the cash economy, the cash companies as well.
▶ 1:06:10Thank you. And I I yield back.
▶ 1:06:14I thank the representative. I now recognize Representative Wilson for five
▶ 1:06:20Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank each of you for being here. And I was uh away a moment ago because this is uh Ukrainian week uh and to me uh to recognize the courage of people of Ukraine standing up and it all relates and that is that we're in a worldwide conflict of dictators with rule of gun invading democracies with rule of law. And so what an opportunity we have in the Middle East today and I'm grateful to be here with Chairman Lawler.
▶ 1:06:47Uh he uh is a proven friend uh of uh those standing for freedom. uh he even did better. His wife is from Aldova. So he he he has proven himself. With that in mind, I uh grew up appreciating the success of the Syrian Lebanese community in South Carolina who've made extraordinary achievements in business professions and public service. In fact, we have a living example not from South Carolina, but from some remote state called California, Daryl Isa of Lebanese American heritage.
▶ 1:07:17As we seek for the people of Lebanon peace and prosperity, it's clear that the greatest threat are the Mullers of Thran financing Hezbollah. And I have faith President Donald Trump will work to cease the financing of murder across the Middle East. With that in mind, under the tremendous leadership of Ambassador Tom Bareric, Lebanese American uh with President Donald Trump, the Middle East is transforming from conflict to opportunity.
▶ 1:07:44I was grateful in August to join with Sarah Jeene Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, bipartisan to see firsthand the transformation in Beirut, Damascus, and Aman. Additionally, we can recognize uh that in Lebanon, Hezbollah wields significant power to control military courts and prosecutors.
▶ 1:08:06I recently spoke to a prisoner inside of the Al Ramaya prison in Lebanon where Hezbollah prosecutors and judges jailed thousands of of persons, Lebanese and Syrians, the vast majority who have been political prisoners who have been jailed for opposing the former murderous regime of Dictator Assad. Uh in November, a year ago, Dictator Assad correctly identified me as an enemy of the state.
▶ 1:08:34Three weeks later, he moved to Moscow to be with War Colonel Putin. And then eight months later, I was in Assad's office with President Al the new president al-Shara, who I I'm really grateful President Donald Trump has said, give Syria a chance. And so what what progress is being made with that in mind for each of you, and we'll go from uh this direction, okay? Uh and uh what can for each of you, what can be done to push Lebanon to release the political prisoners?
▶ 1:09:04not only Syrians but the innocent Lebanese who are there uh in the prison and how can the Trump administration further push the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah to meet the objectives that were set forth last
▶ 1:09:18Thank you. This is a really important issue. We should make it a priority. We should very clearly publicly state our expectation that political prisoners be released and re Assad regime uh era people who are held in Lebanon should be returned to Syria and held accountable there.
▶ 1:09:36Um and with respect to su uh pushing the current government in Beirut to complete the additional four phases of the ceasefire um with Israel, we should make clear our expectation that our support is not unlimited by time and has expectations for performance.
▶ 1:09:54The Trump administration has taken the correct I believe uh approach in providing continued support equipment and encouragement to the laugh but it should make clear that it has expectations for timeline enhanced and accelerated performance
▶ 1:10:08here. Thank you.
▶ 1:10:11Thank you very much. Uh just uh two things briefly uh which is the political political prisoners in Lebanon political detainees uh whether Syrians or Lebanese or other uh are mainly uh there's one main tool that is used against them which is the military court. The military court is a very old uh play system that needs to be abolished as simple as that. The first thing in judicial reform is to abolish the military court or at least seize the military court from dealing with civilians.
▶ 1:10:42That's how you protect uh a political descent. Two, this ceasefire agreement does not have a timeline. Without going into the details, this is number one priority is to ask the government to deliver a timeline for all the phases with deliverables.
▶ 1:10:57Thank you.
▶ 1:10:59I agree with my colleagues. I think actually one of them had a problem with a military court at one point in time, a civilian in Lebanon who was charged. Um this has to end. Um I think there's a whole bunch of new opportunities here. Um these will be the political prisoners but also because of the new cooperation between the Lebanese uh government and the the government of Amed Shara in Syria.
▶ 1:11:23Um you have um u talks between the court systems about uh Syrian government providing information on um Lebanese that the former government of the Assad regime helped assassinate in Syria in Lebanon. Um information being provided. There's a lot of room here. You also you know the the idea of Lebanese missing in Syria who have been missing for decades. This is something I I mentioned earlier.
▶ 1:11:49my friend uh look manslim who was was killed by his he worked on this a great deal there there's a lot of room here but the United States government has to be clear there there's no there's no room for political prisoners um in uh a sensible uh democracies
▶ 1:12:05thank you thank all three of you thank you very much
▶ 1:12:09thank you representative Wilson I now recognize representative Isa for five
▶ 1:12:13thank you hopefully that the Lebanese five minutes on the clock.
▶ 1:12:19I'm on the clock. Uh, look, I'm going to I'm going to start by asking uh an overright riding question. Officially, is Lebanon a parliamentary democratic
▶ 1:12:35The answer is yes. And is the structure although it's a unusual one perfectly acceptable if fully implemented as a functioning parliamentary democratic republic including the 50/50 makeup of the 128 parliamentarians and so on.
▶ 1:12:54Uh I'm sorry acceptable to whom?
▶ 1:12:56To the world. I mean in other words when we look at democracies around the world is the constitution of Lebanon for all practical purposes a functioning reasonable constitution if implemented
▶ 1:13:08u from where I sit yes
▶ 1:13:11okay from where you sit is it fair to say that the speaker of parliament does not implement that part that constitution but has said distorts it so that it doesn't function the Speaker of Parliament is incredibly problematic and has been for 34 years
▶ 1:13:32Right. I've only been here for 26, but yes, he's been there longer. As a result, I heard earlier so, but I'm going to rhetorically ask you the same question. Do you support sanctions sufficient to make changes so that it can in fact be a functioning parliamentary democratic republic? I'm seeing a yes here. Can I get a yes from you, David?
▶ 1:13:56Um, I said earlier that the United States government should be sanctioning um, individuals in Lebanon who are obstructing reform, promoting corruption. I dare say he fits into that
▶ 1:14:08And we s sanctioned people like Jabbron for wantant theft and so on, but we've left the speaker who is has an incredible amount of wealth sitting with his relatives in Dearbornne. Uh, and we've left him alone for generations. Um, I'm proud to say that I was the one responsible for sanctioning Jibron. So,
▶ 1:14:27and uh he's he's an interesting character, but he's still trying to figure out why if he was the last guy to start stealing, he should be the first to be sanctioned. U, but notwithstanding that, you do in fact need to sanction.
▶ 1:14:41So, as a result, uh, two lowly Lebanese Americans, uh, Congressman Leah Hood and myself introduced last night HR7311, the Safe Lebanon Act, which in fact allows for the president, and we hope to have it considered by this committee, marked up and out before the elections, that in fact the president is able to sanction for all of these types of behavior.
▶ 1:15:08But particularly the question I have the diaspora of Lebanon. I am an eligible Lebanese voter under the law. Uh as are so many more than 10 million around the world. Uh but only a fraction will ever vote in those elections. We have been allowed to vote previously. Election law is currently pending.
▶ 1:15:31uh that and they effectively they've changed that in a way that would eliminate the moderate vote that does occur from the diaspora around the world. Should we sanction if that if they are not allowed access to a fair absentee voting system?
▶ 1:15:50Um I wrote about this in my testimony. Uh and it is Nabi Barry who is obstructing electoral reform. um six to eight million Lebanese or 10 million Lebanese expatriots,
▶ 1:16:02a million and a half here and many times that in Brazil.
▶ 1:16:05They're being disenfranchised. Um and this is something that shouldn't happen. Whether this is the reason he should be sanctioned or whether it's for corruption or whether it's for other um mis malfeasants um we should be talking about that. Absolutely. Now, I called for him to be sanctioned previously and it was among other things corruption. Today though, I only have two things that I'm looking at sanctioning for and I'll ask your comments on it in the remaining time.
▶ 1:16:34One is the one that you've already answered which is if people are interfering with the execution of a constitution that allows for a reasonable faximile of a democracy now that many of the outside forces are diminished. should we sanction?
▶ 1:16:51And then the second one quite frankly is do we need to have a form of tough love which may include sanctioning if we cannot get the Lebanese armed forces to risk and I repeat to risk a civil war in order to disarm a rebellion that has gone on for 40 years.
▶ 1:17:14U there is no risk of civil war. there is a threat of violence from Hezbollah if the Lebanese government tries to exert sovereignty. Um whether we should be s I don't think we have to sanction the Lebanese armed forces
▶ 1:17:27cutting off the funding or doing other
▶ 1:17:29We have plenty of leverage.
▶ 1:17:30Anyone else in the remaining time that the chairman might give us?
▶ 1:17:35Um I definitely agree with everything David said definitely and diaspora law is will make or break actually the next parliament. So I totally agree with it. Uh Lebanon is a functioning democracy but but there's we have a real problem with the electoral law. So I really need to bring up the electoral law to make sure that Lebanon uh elections produce a democratic parliament.
▶ 1:17:56Then we have to revisit the electoral law and we have to make sure that the elections in Shia community within the Shia community are actually uh make sure doesn't use violence during the elections because
▶ 1:18:08which is why the larger the larger
▶ 1:18:10this is what they did last time and this is where uh accountability and oversight comes in.
▶ 1:18:16Thank you for your indulgence, Mr.
▶ 1:18:19Thank you, Representative. I now recognize Representative Bombgartner for five minutes.
▶ 1:18:24Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, is Hezbollah still in charge of the airport?
▶ 1:18:30Hezbollah does not still control the airport 100% like it used to be. The airport is the main border entry in Lebanon that today is being regulated. There is a lot of uh Iranians coming to Lebanon who are not allowed to bring in their bags of cash inside Lebanon. There's a lot of oversight over this. However, the airport is not the only point of entry.
▶ 1:18:53You have the port uh of Beirut and you also have the port of Tripoli where most of the smuggling happens and you have the borders with Syria which the the Sharia government is definitely stopping Hezbollah's shipment Iranian shipment to Hezbollah but the border is so porous it's not demarcated so the smuggling still happens there a lot to be done besides the airports but on the airport itself there's a lot of work that has done
▶ 1:19:22just to be You said it's mainly not. So, how much Hezbollah is still at the airport? 0%.
▶ 1:19:27No, not 0%, but definitely from 100% I can't say exactly how much, but definitely less than half of it. Like there's a lot of uh most of the work is actually on the airports. Uh but it also depends on who is present in from the Lebanese uh security apparatus at that shift during that time. It's all about officers, right? Yeah,
▶ 1:19:49sometimes they depending on the person who's there,
▶ 1:19:51but they're not they're not controlling the airport per se.
▶ 1:19:55Well, look, I love Lebanon. Uh enjoy the country very much. I I first went to Middle East in 1994 when I was a curse scholar at Jordan, Syria. Uh spent a lot of time uh there. U very much appreciate the good work the Hudson Institute. All all three of you do good work and and and appreciate you. But uh you know, the challenges of Lebanon are many.
▶ 1:20:15as you as you deal with Lebanese diaspora, I never it's just such an interesting group of people because they love their country so much and yet there's so much corruption in Lebanon and the diaspora does so much to keep that country from being successful like in their own way. And I really want America to seize this opportunity, the international community to seize this opportunity to try to suppress Hezbollah and give it a leg up.
▶ 1:20:38But I struggle with the use of American taxpayer dollars uh with the amount of corruption and these games that have gone on for decades in Lebanon. And you know, so to the members of the Lebanese diaspora listening to this, I I mean get serious people. It's your country. It's your future. Uh act for the good of the people, not corrupt individuals. And you all know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm not trying to give a lecture, but Lebanese people know exactly what I'm talking about in this instance.
▶ 1:21:06You know, when I was in Iraq, we uh uh during the surge, uh we ran a number of operations to try to suppress uh the uh Iranian uh uh supported insurgent groups, taking over certain sectors of the economy in inter agency fashion. Obviously, during the surge, we had a lot of uh ability uh to to do that with the amount of resources. I look at sort of key metrics in Lebanon, one of these really being the airport on this thing.
▶ 1:21:32I mean, if we can't even get Lebanon out of securing the border or the excuse me, hebah out of securing the merit points of entry, it's really hard for me to say, let's put American additional American taxpayer dollars into the country. So, that would be number one. But just in the remaining time, if you could each give me the single most important thing America could do to suppress Hezbollah at this point in time uh in the country, we'll just go down the list. Danny, do you want to start?
▶ 1:21:59maintain as a priority implementation of all phases of the ceasefire and the verified disarmament of Hezbollah, but not just on the security file. We have to put more on the table to neutralize Hezbollah's social and economic penetration across Lebanon.
▶ 1:22:19It's very hard to pick one, but I would say definitely uh um more sanctions on Lebanon. We haven't seen sanctions during this administration. We've seen it before. And Lebanese react to
▶ 1:22:34Hezbollah doesn't react to sanctions as much as the Lebanese react to sanctions.
▶ 1:22:38I got 40 seconds left. What's the next? And I got one more question.
▶ 1:22:41Yeah. Condition the aid to the LAF. I think the we can monitor that. We know where it's going. We have to condition it to based on performance. The other is to have the mechanism that's determining the ceasefire. Let's have them call balls and strikes. Let's see what the the LAF is actually doing and
▶ 1:22:57Okay, just a yes or no. Does Lebanon should America be pressing Lebanon to write a new constitution
▶ 1:23:04to write a new constitution? The current constitution if implemented transparently and effectively.
▶ 1:23:11So that's a no. Yes or no?
▶ 1:23:14Not now.
▶ 1:23:16Not now. Okay. Thank you guys very much. Appreciate your good work. Yield back.
▶ 1:23:21Thank you, Representative. I thank the witnesses for their valuable testimony and the members for their questions. The members of the subcommittee may have some additional questions for the witnesses and we will ask you to respond to these in writing. Pursuant to committee rules, all members may have 5 days to submit statements, questions, and extraneous materials for the record subject to the length limitations. Without objection, the committee stands