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Former US Special Envoy for Middle East Peace David Hale explains whether disarming Hezbollah is a realistic objective for Lebanon.
Transcript
00:00Right. And the Lebanese keep being told by all sides, you've got to deal with Hezbollah,
00:06you've got to disarm and disband Hezbollah. We just spoke to Aaron David Miller, who I'm sure
00:11you're familiar with. And he said to us that he thinks that request is untethered from reality.
00:18I mean, is it mission impossible? It's very difficult. But again, I think the key element
00:23here is what happens between Washington and Tehran. If we are able, the United States is
00:28able to emerge from this, demonstrating a clear victory and that the Iranians are no longer
00:33in a position to intimidate the entire Middle East the way they have been, then I think the
00:38situation in Lebanon becomes much easier not to crack. Hezbollah is not going to give up their
00:42arms voluntarily. It's going to be a challenging thing. The Lebanese also have to come up not just
00:47with an army that's capable of enforcing the rule of law, but also find a way to accommodate the
00:52Shia population, which has been dominated by Hezbollah. Now the Shia, I think, are questioning
00:59the value of that, but they're also wondering who's going to protect them against the other
01:03communities in Lebanon and against Israel in the future. So that's where these talks
01:06between Israel and Lebanon are so important, because it may produce outcomes that can show
01:12with the people of Lebanon that there is a peaceful horizon.
01:14So thank you very much.
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