Lebanon army chief holds positive talks with US officials, faces pushback on Capitol Hill

Lebanon’s army commander, Rodolphe Haykal, was set to leave Washington this week after a series of generally positive meetings with US officials. However, his visit was overshadowed by sharp criticism from a senior Republican lawmaker, raising new questions about the future of American military assistance to Lebanon.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close ally of President Donald Trump, said he abruptly cut short what he described as a “very brief meeting” with Haykal after asking whether the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) considered Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

According to Graham, Haykal replied, “No, not in the context of Lebanon.”

Citing the US Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, carried out by Hezbollah’s predecessor, Graham pointed to the bipartisan US consensus designating the group as a terrorist organization.

“As long as this attitude exists from the Lebanese Armed Forces, I don’t think we have a reliable partner in them,” Graham said in a post on X. “I am tired of the double speak in the Middle East. Too much is at stake.”

Graham and several other lawmakers had already scrapped a planned visit last year amid growing frustration with what they viewed as insufficient progress by the Lebanese military in disarming Hezbollah.

At a gathering this week, Haykal said the army’s top priority remains internal security. He also reiterated his commitment to delivering on the Lebanese government’s pledge to establish state control over all weapons in the country, including those held by Hezbollah.

Haykal’s reception on Capitol Hill was not uniformly negative. He met a day earlier with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who struck a more upbeat tone.

The Lebanese army chief also held meetings with senior members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, including Chairman Brian Mast and Ranking Member Gregory Meeks.

Beyond Capitol Hill, Haykal held separate sit-downs at the CIA, the National Security Council, and the Pentagon, where he met with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine. His first stop during the visit was the headquarters of United States Central Command (CENTCOM) in Tampa, Florida.