US envoy in Beirut for talks on Hezbollah disarmament as Israel ramps up strikes

A U.S. envoy met Lebanese officials in Beirut on Monday to discuss a proposed plan to disarm Hezbollah, hours after Israel launched new air strikes and a cross-border ground assault.
The Israeli escalation was seen by Lebanese officials and diplomats as an attempt to ratchet up pressure on Hezbollah, whose leader Naim Qassem said in a televised speech on Sunday that the group still needed arms to defend Lebanon from Israel.
Hezbollah emerged badly damaged from a war with Israel last year that eliminated much of the group’s leadership, killed thousands of its fighters and left tens of thousands of its supporters displaced from their destroyed homes.