Overview

• Lebanon’s cabinet approved a four-phase, U.S.-backed roadmap and ordered its armed forces to produce a disarmament implementation plan by the end of the year
• U.S. envoy Tom Barrack called on Israel to halt ground, air and sea operations and withdraw troops from five strategic southern positions
• Hezbollah has refused to disarm and warned that any attempt to seize its arsenal could spark civil conflict
• Despite the November ceasefire, Israel has maintained limited strikes and held forces on key southern hilltops
• The United States is seeking to link Lebanon’s disarmament roadmap to an economic reconstruction package to support recovery in the south