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From Habib to Barrack: Echoes of American diplomacy and the unfinished story of Lebanon

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yesterday

Over 40 years ago, another American envoy arrived in Beirut—Philip Habib—assuming a role strikingly similar to the one Tom Barrack is now taking on. Removing a threat to Israel from Lebanese territory, Habib’s mission in the early 1980s set in motion a chain of events few in the region—or beyond—would have wished to witness. Some fear that today’s ambassador Tom Barrack’s involvement in Lebanon may mark the beginning of yet another unpredictable sequence, one that could reshape regional dynamics in ways we cannot yet foresee.

Habib’s arrival came as the US scrambled to contain the mess caused by Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon—one of the bloodiest chapters of the Lebanese civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1990. Ambassador Philip Habib’s task was to broker the removal of the Palestinian fighters from Lebanon so Israel could declare its military objectives of invasion that was named Operation “Peace for Galilee” accomplished. But the aftermath spiraled: U.S. and French peace forces in Lebanon were targeted in devastating attacks that killed over 250 US marines and dozens of French troops—an event etched into Washington DC’s memory to this day. Though the PLO leadership was eventually evacuated along with the fighters to Tunisia, Lebanon’s war deepened, drawing in new actors and agendas.

Fast forward to 2025, Ambassador Tom Barrack arrives in Beirut amid a volatile Middle East standoff, tasked with closing the Hezbollah file—persuading the Lebanese state to approve a decision to disarm the group and making it happen on the ground. A mission that is both formidable and extremely dangerous to even initiate. “I do not want to hand over my arms. Giving away Hezbollah’s weapons is suicide—we are not willing to commit suicide,” said Mohammad Ra’ad, the leader of Hezbollah’s bloc in the Lebanese Parliament during a TV interview with Al Manar. The situation is extremely tense, The Syrian lifeline to Hezbollah has been severed by the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s Ba’ath regime in Damascus. Hezbollah itself has suffered unprecedented losses since the war in Gaza began, losing much of its leadership one way or another.

READ: UN votes to dismantle Lebanon peacekeeping force amid Israeli hostility and US pressure

In the early months of the Israel–Gaza war, Hezbollah faced mounting criticism from regional allies and traditional supporters for its........

© Middle East Monitor