US calls Lebanon's military court handling of envoy case 'embarrassing'

The US State Department publicly denounced Lebanon’s decision to let its military court process a complaint lodged by pro-Hezbollah lawyer Hassan Adel Bazzi against Lebanese ambassador to Washington Nada Moawad. The grievance stems from Moawad’s phone call to Israel’s ambassador Yechiel Leiter to ask about the condition of Leiter’s son, who was critically wounded in a car-ramming attack at a West Bank checkpoint. Washington described the handling of the case by a military tribunal—often accused of Hezbollah influence—as “embarrassing” and urged the court to focus on prosecuting Hezbollah operatives instead.

Lebanese prosecutors have only referred the complaint to the government commissioner for the military court, a procedural move that does not constitute a formal investigation. Moawad and Leiter have been central figures in direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, seeking Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah, goals that have seen little progress. Hezbollah and its supporters have long condemned any Lebanese government engagement with Israel. The military court is also probing a separate case involving a vehicle found with half a tonne of explosives bound for Beirut’s southern suburbs.