In recent weeks, there has been talk in Washington about Syria potentially intervening in Lebanon.
The reports have come as the Trump administration has expressed concern over Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah. In essence, it appears that US President Donald Trump came to believe that Israel was not able to defeat Hezbollah quickly, and the war had led to too much destruction.
Trump then considered whether Syria might help. The Trump administration has embraced Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Could Sharaa help solve Lebanon?
Syria and Lebanon have more in common than just a border. Hezbollah intervened in the Syrian civil war and backed the Assad regime. Iran moved weapons via Syria to Hezbollah. Hezbollah is widely seen by Syrian opponents of the Assad regime as having been complicit in Assad’s crimes.
As such, it is believed that the Syrian rebel groups that came to run Syria after the fall of Assad in December 2024 might welcome the opportunity to fight Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Sharaa government has been cautious. They have helped prevent smuggling to Hezbollah. However, they don’t want to plunge Syria into a new war. Syria intervened in Lebanon in the past. It sent forces to Lebanon in 1976 and maintained a presence there until 2005. Hezbollah was involved in the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri in 2005.
This led to the Lebanese demanding that Syria leave the country in 2005. Syria was seen as working with Hezbollah.
Syria thus knows the challenge of sending forces to Lebanon. Sharaa was quoted recently as saying, "Lebanon needs joint solutions, and Syria is ready to anchor a new security path…Our goal is to back the Lebanese state, strengthen its institutions.”
He has argued that this means conducting talks with Lebanon, including possibly Hezbollah. Syria prefers diplomacy, not war.
Arab News in Saudi Arabia noted that “Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa denied on Sunday that his country sought to intervene militarily in Lebanon where Israel and Hezbollah are at war, after US President Donald Trump repeatedly suggested Damascus could get involved.”
The report also noted that Sharaa said, “We are looking for economic channels between Lebanon and Syria, not military ones.” Shara'a said this in an interview on the television channel Al Mashhad.
Arab News noted that “on Sunday, Trump told Fox News he was ‘disappointed Israel can’t put Hezbollah away,’ adding in reference to the fight against the terror group: ‘I’m close to giving it over to Syria.’”
Trump’s apparent push for Syria to have a role could still manifest itself in other ways.
The Al-Nusra website had noted that “Trump has not given up on disbanding Hezbollah, despite the memorandum of understanding with Iran, and is working in other ways to put pressure on the organization and strengthen the US position in Lebanon and the region.”
The report adds that despite a push for a ceasefire and a new de-confliction concept in Lebanon, “it is estimated that Washington is using various tools simultaneously to try to disarm Hezbollah.”
The report goes on to say that even as the US is involved in Iran talks in Switzerland, “at the same time, the United States imposed sanctions on Hezbollah allies, including Suleiman Frangieh, head of the Marada movement, and pressured the Syrian authorities to intervene in Lebanon.”
The report goes on to say that “the sources note that the sanctions carry several messages: to Lebanon - to remain firm in the face of pressure; to Hezbollah - that the organization is still considered an organization that must be disarmed; and to the party's allies - that there is no fundamental change in the domestic arena.”
US wants Hezbollah to disarm
A report at Lebanon’s Naharnet noted that “the US Treasury on Thursday imposed sanctions on Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh, Hezbollah political council deputy head Mahmoud Qmati and other individuals for using their influence to ‘obstruct Lebanon's peace process and delay the disarmament of Hezbollah.’”
The US wants Hezbollah to disarm. The US Department of the Treasury will continue to target Hezbollah’s financial networks.
Suleiman Frangieh, who was born in 1965, is a former member of the Lebanese parliament. He is a Christian and was also a former supporter of Bashar al-Assad.
He has been backed by Hezbollah in the past. He is the son of Tony Frangieh, who was assassinated in 1978 by rival Christian fighters from the Christian Kataeb Party.
He is the grandson of former Lebanese president Suleiman Frangieh, with whom he shares the same name. A former soldier, he also led the Marada Brigades militia, which was disbanded under the Taif Agreement that ended the Lebanese civil war. He was appointed to a seat in parliament in 1991.