Report: Barrack voiced remarks after being criticized in Washington

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack’s latest shocking remarks came after a series of consultations within the team that works closely with U.S. President Donald Trump, a Lebanese source informed on the ongoing deliberations in Washington said.

Lebanese figures who contacted Barrack “sensed that he is facing a harsh campaign of criticism from U.S. sides that adopt the Israeli point of view,” the source told al-Akhbar newspaper.

The U.S. figures are “holding him responsible for not being strict with the Lebanese authorities,” suggesting that “his approach with the Lebanese officials has encouraged them to maneuver,” the source said.

The U.S. figures also believe that he is “repeating in Lebanon what he did in Syria, when he hinted to Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa that he could maneuver in the face of the U.S.-Israeli demands, which pushed al-Sharaa to make a wrong interpretation of the Israeli stance and caused him a major problem in the Syrian south and Sweida,” the source told al-Akhbar.

“Barrack revealed to figures whom he met on the sidelines of the New York meetings that he is very worried and seriously fears a return of the Israeli war on Lebanon, and that he had to say what he said in his latest interview in order to highlight his country’s official stance and to stress that he is not doing an independent work,” the source said.

He also meant to “clarify to Lebanese officials that Israel is serious in its program, not only to disarm Hezbollah by force, but also to make the Lebanese state pay for not performing the role requested from it,” the source added.