Behind Closed Doors at the Pentagon: The Strategic Agenda of Lebanon’s Military Delegation

Political sources have disclosed to Al-Liwaa newspaper the core strategic and technical agenda that Lebanon’s newly formed military delegation will present during highly anticipated meetings at the Pentagon with US and Israeli defense officials.
The delegation is officially spearheaded by the Lebanese Army’s Director of Operations, Brigadier General George Rizkallah, who is slated to table a definitive set of operational demands and structural clarifications.
A Comprehensive Framework for a Total Ceasefire
According to the leaked brief, General Rizkallah’s primary objective centers on securing a comprehensive and permanent halt to all hostilities and cross-border military operations.
Concurrently, the delegation will submit a exhaustive, evidence-backed report detailing the Lebanese Army’s prior operational achievements in the zone south of the Litani River before the outbreak of the war. The dossier will systematically outline the severe logistical and intelligence roadblocks the military encountered during its deployment.
Countering Israeli Narratives on Hezbollah’s Infrastructure
A key component of the Pentagon presentation will directly address and counter widespread narratives circulating within the United States and promoted by Israel, which claim that the Lebanese Army failed to take steps toward establishing the exclusivity of state weapons.
To refute this, the delegation’s report will highlight several critical points:
Intelligence Gaps: The army operated with zero prior knowledge regarding the exact layout of underground tunnel networks and concealed weapons depots, as Hezbollah never disclosed their existence.
The Cost of Disarmament: Despite severe resource constraints, the army strictly executed government directives. The report cites that 12 Lebanese soldiers were martyred while actively dismantling mines, clearing heavy explosives out of hidden tunnels, and neutralizing unexploded ordnance.
Israeli Obstructionism: The delegation will stress that Israel’s refusal to withdraw from five strategically vital occupied hilltops severely bottlenecked the army’s tactical deployment across the South, rendering them vulnerable to intermittent Israeli incursions even prior to the launch of the latest war.
Addressing Looted Material and Broken Funding Promises
The political sources noted that the delegation will explicitly bring up the severe technical deficits plaguing the military institution. The Lebanese Army initiated its high-stakes deployment in the volatile southern sector completely devoid of proper logistical frameworks or adequate defensive equipment.
The delegation will hold international mediators accountable to the structural funding pledges made to the army back in 2024. At the time, global powers demanded that the military enter south of the Litani to eradicate all illegal armed presences, promising substantial military aid and logistical hardware in return—commitments that ultimately failed to materialize.
Separating the Military and Political Tracks
The sources expressed their firm belief that if a stable ceasefire is successfully established, the Pentagon talks will remain strictly confined to technicalities, such as coordinating the Israeli army’s withdrawal timelines and mapping out the Lebanese Army’s defensive perimeters.
Crucially, the sources emphasize that it is not the mandate of this military committee to negotiate the disarmament of Hezbollah. That highly sensitive file is being intentionally separated from the security track and will be addressed exclusively within the parallel diplomatic and political negotiations slated to launch in Washington on June 2 and 3, 2026.