United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale met with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri of Lebanon on Monday in Beirut.
After the meeting, Hale said, "We are proceeding with our efforts to counter Iran’s dangerous activities around the region, including the financing and activities of proxy terrorist organizations such as Hizballah [sic]. While Lebanon has, the right to defend itself, that is a right of the Lebanese state alone. It is unacceptable to have a militia outside the control of the state and unanswerable to all the people of Lebanon, digging attack tunnels across the Blue Line into Israel and assembling an arsenal of over 100,000 missiles with which to threaten regional stability."