U.S. envoy says Hezbollah must be disarmed 'as soon as possible'

BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that Hezbollah and other armed groups should be disarmed "as soon as possible" and that Lebanese troops were expected to do the job.

Ortagus spoke to Lebanese broadcaster LBCI at the end of a three-day visit to Beirut, where she met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri and other officials and political representatives.

Her visit followed several weeks of intensifying Israeli air strikes on Lebanon targeting members of Iran-backed Hezbollah and the group's weapons depots, including two strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, and rocket fire from Lebanon onto Israel. Hezbollah denied any role in the rocket attacks.

The exchange of fire tested an already shaky ceasefire that ended a year-long war between Israel and Hezbollah, and calls for the disarmament of armed groups across the country.

"It's clear that Hezbollah has to be disarmed and it's clear that Israel is not going to accept terrorists shooting at them, into their country, and that's a position we understand," Ortagus said.

"We continue to press on this government to fully fulfill the cessation of hostilities and that includes disarming Hezbollah and all militias," she said.

Asked whether the U.S. had set a timeline for the disarmament to take place, Ortagus said, "As soon as possible."

"There's not necessarily a timetable so to speak, but we know that the sooner that the LAF (Lebanese Armed Forces) is able to meet these goals and disarm all militias in the state, the sooner the Lebanese people can be free," she said.

The ceasefire agreement calls for Lebanese troops to dismantle armed groups' military positions and confiscate unauthorised arms "starting with" south Lebanon. The army has destroyed hundreds of weapons caches in south Lebanon since the deal was agreed in November, security sources have told Reuters.

Hezbollah has long rejected attempts to disarm it. It says the ceasefire applies exclusively to southern Lebanon, and not the entire country, and points to Israel's air strikes and continued presence in five hilltop positions in southern Lebanon as major breaches of the truce.

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily and Hatem Maher; Editing by Richard Chang)