The US has condemned a complaint filed in Lebanon against the country's ambassador to Washington, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, over her reported contact with her Israeli counterpart, Yechiel Leiter.
What happened
A lawyer described as pro-Hezbollah filed the complaint with Lebanon's military judiciary in response to a report that Moawad reached out to Leiter after his son was injured in a terror attack in the West Bank. The complaint is related to a 1955-era anti-normalization law that prohibits contact between Lebanese and Israeli citizens.
The US State Department criticized the complaint, calling it embarrassing and accusing Hezbollah-linked actors of seeking to obstruct US-led efforts to foster diplomatic contacts between Israel and Lebanon. A State Department spokesperson said the Lebanese military judiciary should focus on prosecuting Hezbollah operatives instead of targeting diplomats.
The complaint comes amid ongoing efforts by the US to improve relations between Israel and Lebanon, including US-brokered talks between the two countries' ambassadors. The talks have faced resistance from Iranian-backed Hezbollah, and implementation of a framework agreement signed in June has stalled due to disagreements over sequencing and verification.
