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Lawmakers question whether US moving fast enough to capitalize on Hezbollah’s weakened state
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A House Foreign Affairs Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday underscored what lawmakers and witnesses repeatedly described as a «historic» but «narrowing» opportunity to weaken Hezbollah and restore Lebanese state sovereignty, while exposing sharp disagreement over whether current U.S. policy is moving fast or forcefully enough.
Opening the hearing, Chairman Mike Lawler, R-NY., said Lebanon is «at a crossroads» following the Nov. 2024 Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, arguing the moment offers «an unprecedented opportunity» to help Lebanon «break free of the shackles of Iran’s malign influence.» He warned, however, that progress has been uneven, saying implementation of the Lebanese Armed Forces’ has been «haphazard at best.»
The ranking member, Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., struck a more confrontational tone toward the administration, warning that Hezbollah is already rebuilding and that U.S. policy risks squandering the moment.
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Commuters drive past a newly-installed billboard bearing the image of a Lebanese flag and a statement that reads in Arabic «Lebanon a new era», replacing a Hezbollah billboard, on the road leading to Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International airport on April 10, 2025. (Photo by Joseph Eid/AFP via Getty Images)
«There is a historic opportunity in Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah and remove its grip on the Lebanese state,» he said. «That window of opportunity, however, is narrow. Hezbollah is working hard to rebuild, rearm and to reconstitute itself.»
He criticized cuts to non-security assistance and faulted comments by a Trump administration envoy who described Hezbollah as «a political party that also has a militant aspect to it,» arguing such language «sent the wrong signals» at a critical moment.
David Schenker, senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, testified that while Hezbollah has been weakened militarily, the pace of disarmament remains slow and obstructed.
People gesture as Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem gives a televised address, during a rally in solidarity with Iran and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon Jan. 26, 2026. (Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
«The LAF has a presence in the south that it didn’t have prior to November 2024,» Schenker said. «But they are not in control. Hezbollah still controls the region.»
Schenker said the obstacle is no longer capability but political will. «At this point, the question of disarmament is not a matter of capability but of will,» he told lawmakers, warning that Hezbollah continues to thrive amid corruption and a cash-based economy.
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Hezbollah members salute and raise the group’s yellow flags during the funeral of their fallen comrades Ismail Baz and Mohamad Hussein Shohury, who were killed in an Israeli strike on their vehicles, in Shehabiya in south Lebanon on April 17, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)
Hanin Ghaddar, senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that even full weapons surrender would not dismantle Hezbollah’s power.
«Hezbollah is not sustained by weapons alone,» Ghaddar said. «It survives through an economic and political ecosystem that protects cash flows, penetrates state institutions and enables military rebuilding.»
She warned that Lebanon’s unregulated cash economy has become Hezbollah’s most durable asset. «Weapons can be collected, but money keeps flowing,» Ghaddar said. «Disarmament without dismantling the cash economy… will not be durable.»
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In this photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, third left, U.S. deputy special presidential envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus, second left, and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa A. Johnson, left, at the presidential palace in Baabda, in east of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)
All three witnesses emphasized U.S. support should be tied to measurable performance such as progress on disarmament of Hezbollah and economic reform.
Schenker called for renewed sanctions against corrupt Lebanese officials, saying, «We should be sanctioning leaders right now… who are obstructing reform.»
Dana Stroul, director of research and senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, warned that Washington’s approach remains incomplete.
«For the past year, U.S. policy has focused on Hezbollah disarmament, which is critical, but on its own is only a partial strategy,» Stroul said.
She cautioned that upcoming parliamentary elections could either «strengthen or undermine the anti-Hezbollah government,» calling it the «worst-case outcome» if Hezbollah-aligned politicians retain power.
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Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (Bilal Hussein/AP Photo)
Ghaddar said Hezbollah’s weakening has shifted Lebanese public discourse. «The mythology of resistance has shattered,» she said. «Peace is no longer taboo.»
She argued that normalization with Israel would raise the political cost of Hezbollah’s rearmament and help lock in reform. «Without a credible peace horizon, disarmament and economic reform will be temporary. With one, they become structural,» Ghaddar said.
lebanon,terrorism,middle east foreign policy,hearings house of representatives politics,israel,politics
INTERNACIONAL
Ukraine to meet Trump envoys ahead of high-stakes Geneva talks with Russia as war enters fifth year
Russia-Ukraine war enters fifth year
Fox News senior foreign affairs correspondent Greg Palkot joins ‘America Reports’ to discuss the start of the fifth year in the war between Russia and Ukraine, the impact it has had on both countries and the ongoing efforts to negotiate peace.
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Representatives from Ukraine and the U.S. are reportedly set to meet ahead of high-stakes trilateral talks in Geneva that will include Russian envoys. The report about the meeting comes just after the Russia-Ukraine war entered its fifth year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters about the Thursday U.S.-Ukraine meeting, The Associated Press reported. The Ukrainian leader reportedly said that Thursday’s meeting would focus on the possibility of post-war recovery for Ukraine as well as preparations for an upcoming trilateral meeting with Russia, according to the AP.
The meeting is expected to involve Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Secretary, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, according to the AP, which cited Zelenskyy. Additionally, Umerov’s press secretary Diana Davytian told the AP that the meeting would take place in Geneva. The outlet noted that the Swiss city is also expected to be the site of U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations on the same day as the trilateral talks.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands during their meeting at the sidelines of the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2026. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Zelenskyy said that he had tasked Umerov with discussing a possible prisoner exchange, the AP reported. He added that Ukraine would like the talks with Russia to take place next week.
The Trump administration’s push to end the years-long war has brought Russian and Ukrainian envoys to the table in both Abu Dhabi and Geneva, though the meetings have yet to produce a breakthrough for peace.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have both met separately with President Donald Trump. Despite a peace deal agreement being close, territorial disputes remain, Zelenskyy said. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP; Christian Bruna/Getty)
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Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on X that he had met with Zelenskyy and discussed «Ukraine’s security and deepening defense and economic partnerships.»
«President Trump wants a solution that ends the bloodshed once and for all,» Rubio wrote.
Additionally, last week, Zelenskyy said that he spoke with Witkoff and Kushner ahead of the trilateral meetings in Geneva, which he said the Ukrainian government expects to be «truly productive.»
«We also discussed some developments following the meetings in Abu Dhabi. Not everything can be shared over the phone, and our negotiating team will present Ukraine’s position next week. I also spoke about our meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. We greatly appreciate that America consistently maintains a constructive approach and is ready to assist in protecting lives,» Zelenskyy wrote on X. «I thank President Trump, his team, and the people of the United States for their support.»
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the U.S. gave Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to end the war. (Viktor Kovalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images; Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Kristina Solovyova / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
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On Tuesday, which was the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelenskyy stood firm, saying that Putin had not defeated Ukraine nor broken the country’s spirit. The statement came as Ukrainian forces made the biggest gains since 2024, according to the AP, which cited the Institute for the Study of War. The institute noted that Ukranian forces have pushed back on Russia’s army at points along the front line in eastern areas of the country.
The State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Voters react as Trump calls Dems ‘crazy’ for not applauding ban on secret teen gender transitions
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President Donald Trump’s decision to rip Democrats as «crazy» during his State of the Union address on Tuesday — after they remained seated while he demanded a ban on socially transitioning minors without parental consent — drew sharply divided reactions from a live panel of voters.
The panel, assembled by polling group Maslansky & Partners, included 29 Democrats, 30 Independents and 40 Republicans. Their real-time reactions were displayed as colored lines on a graph, with higher values representing positive reactions and lower values indicating negative ones.
«But surely we can all agree no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents’ will,» Trump said. «Who would believe that?… We must ban it, and we must ban it immediately.»
As Trump delivered the remarks, the Republican line, shown in red, climbed sharply into positive territory. Independents, represented in yellow, also ticked upward, while Democrats, shown in blue, trended downward into negative territory.
President Donald Trump speaks during his State of the Union address as a live reaction panel assembled by Maslansky & Partners tracks voter responses to his remarks on banning school gender transitions without parental consent. Republicans are shown in red, Independents in yellow and Democrats in blue. (Fox News)
The comments drew applause from Republicans in the chamber, but the president became incensed when he realized that Democrats refused to stand.
«Look, nobody stands up,» Trump said.
«These people are crazy. I’m telling you. They’re crazy,» Trump said, pointing his finger at Democratic senators and House members who remained seated.
Republican reactions stayed elevated during the remarks, while Democratic responses remained negative and independent voters held relatively steady.
Sage Blair and her mother, Michelle Blair, stand in the gallery during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address after he highlighted her case involving alleged school gender transition policies. (Pool)
Trump made the remarks as he called on Sage Blair, a Virginia teenager whose family filed a 2023 lawsuit alleging that Appomattox County High School staff socially transitioned her without parental knowledge.
According to a lawsuit filed by her family, Blair began identifying as male at school, where staff used male names and pronouns and allowed her to use male facilities without informing her parents.
WATCH: Trump highlights teen whose family says school hid her gender transition during State of the Union
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The family alleges the situation escalated after Blair ran away from home and later became a victim of sex trafficking, with the lawsuit alleging she was kidnapped and raped in multiple states.
Highlighting the case during his address, Trump said Blair was 14 when school officials sought to socially transition her «to a new gender,» treating her as a boy and hiding it from her parents.
«But today, all of that is behind them because Sage is a proud and wonderful young woman with a full-ride scholarship to Liberty University. Sage and Michelle, please stand up,» Trump said as Republicans in the chamber cheered.
«Thank you for your great bravery,» he added.
The gender policy segment generated some of the strongest reactions of the night from the panel.
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President Donald Trump demanded a ban on schools socially transitioning minors without parental consent at Tuesday’s State of the Union. (Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)
Among supporters, several comments focused on protecting children and parental involvement, including: «Protect children,» and «Parents should be informed.»
Opponents pushed back on the scope of the proposal, writing comments such as: «Every case is unique,» and «A total ban is not good.»
The issue appeared to trigger deeply personal reactions on both sides.
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