Morgan Ortagus, US Deputy Special Envoy for Middle East Peace, called for Hezbollah's complete disarmament and compared the Iran-backed group to a “cancer” within Lebanon that must be removed for the country to have any hope of recovery, in an interview with Al Arabiya on Monday.
Ortagus placed blame on Iran and Hezbollah for Lebanon’s conflict with Israel and for dragging Lebanon into it.
"The government of Lebanon didn’t want to go to war with Israel. It was on October 8, 2023, that Hezbollah and Iran decided to get into the war… people were forced into a war that nobody wanted to be in,” she said.
The special envoy emphasized the need for Hezbollah’s complete disarmament, comparing the group to a “cancer” within Lebanon that must be removed for the country to have any chance of recovery.
“When you have cancer, you don’t treat part of the cancer in your body and let the rest of it grow and fester,” she stated. “You cut the cancer out.”
Addressing fears of civil war
During a diplomatic visit to the UAE, Ortagus dismissed longstanding concerns that disarming Hezbollah could lead to a civil war. "We’ve been hearing that for 20 years," she remarked in her interview with Al Arabiya News.
Ortagus expressed strong support for Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, calling the current moment “a once-in-a-generation” opportunity for reform. She highlighted the severity of Lebanon’s financial crisis, stating, “Lebanon’s financial situation is as bad as it gets. They’re in a hole. It’s worse than Greece during the financial crisis.”
الاجتماع بين رئيس الجمهورية العماد جوزاف عون ونائبة المبعوث الأميركي إلى الشرق الأوسط مورغان أورتاغوس، كان بنّاءً، وتم البحث بين الوفدين، في عدد من الملفات، أبرزها:- الوضع في الجنوب اللبناني- الحدود اللبنانية-السورية - الإصلاحات المالية والاقتصادية لمكافحة الفسادوكان قد سبق… pic.twitter.com/Yksmfu5Rj6
— Lebanese Presidency (@LBpresidency) April 5, 2025
She also praised the formation of a technocratic Cabinet composed of Lebanese professionals from the diaspora, including figures from HSBC, JP Morgan, and Blackstone, who returned to help rebuild the country. "They didn’t have a party affiliation, and they swore not to run for the [parliamentary] elections next year,” she noted.
Ortagus reaffirmed US support for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), stressing that the military is fully capable of taking over national security duties from Hezbollah. “If we’ve been providing assistance for several decades and they couldn’t do it, then there’s a problem with their US assistance… They have the capability. They just need the political will,” she said.
Ortagus underscored the importance of passing long-delayed legislation to reform Lebanon’s financial sector, including a bank secrecy law and a bank resolution framework, ahead of the IMF and World Bank’s Spring Meetings. “You can’t make the case [for support] if you haven’t passed the legislation in Parliament to show that you’re serious about these reforms,” she concluded.