U.S. to Avoid Confrontation in Lebanon

Disarming the group's large militia, along with those of others in the troubled country, is a key part of a United Nations resolution that the U.S. co-sponsored last year to end foreign meddling in Lebanon.

Instead, senior U.S. officials say, they plan to focus first on a U.N. verification of Syria's withdrawal, then use America's diplomatic leverage to guarantee free and fair parliamentary elections in Lebanon, which are scheduled for late next month.

The priorities for U.S. policy on Lebanon reflect President Bush's overall foreign affairs agenda for his second term, which emphasizes that the spread of democracy is the real key to America's security.

The U.S. approach in Lebanon is being driven not only by the desire to promote democracy but also by realities on the ground.

Those familiar with the country's politics note that any immediate American demand on Hezbollah to disarm its militia -- as called for in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559 -- could backfire.

"Given the fact that America is not the flavor of the month there, it could enhance Hezbollah's chances at the polls," said Edward Walker, a former U.S. ambassador to Egypt and Israel and currently head of the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think tank.

The U.N. resolution, passed in September under U.S. and French sponsorship, calls for "the disbanding and disarmament" of the armed militias associated with several political parties in Lebanon.

Hezbollah's is the largest and strongest of these paramilitary forces.

The organization is on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations and is known in the West as an Iranian-backed militant group linked to a series of attacks against Israeli and U.S. and other Western targets. But it is also an important political force in Lebanon's large Shiite Muslim community and controls 12 seats in the country's 128-member parliament.

U.S. officials stress that focusing resources on the parliamentary election rather than on disarming Hezbollah carries several other advantages aside from the political signal it sends about the importance of the electoral process.