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Lebanese Judge Ghada Aoun Summoned for Questioning

Judge Ghada Aoun. NNA file photo
Judge Ghada Aoun. NNA file photo
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Lebanese Judge Ghada Aoun Summoned for Questioning

Judge Ghada Aoun. NNA file photo
Judge Ghada Aoun. NNA file photo

Public Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oweidat set next Monday a date to question Judge Ghada Aoun for insulting the Supreme Judicial Council, in addition to other cases, a judicial source told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Her summoning by Owaidat shocked the judiciary because the judge is backed by President Michel Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement that is led by the president’s son-in-law Gebran Bassil.

Judge Aoun will also be questioned on the cases filed by deputy Hadi Hobeich against her for defamation.

Oweidat has commissioned Judge Ghassan al-Khoury to interrogate her and to inform him of the results in order to take the appropriate legal action.

Judge Aoun has posted on her WhatsApp harsh remarks on the Supreme Judicial Council, accusing it of trying to keep mouths shut after she gave her opinion about appointments in the judiciary.

The source said Judge Aoun “was called in for investigation before President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Judge Imad Kabalan, last Thursday, but she rejected.”

He said that Khoury then contacted Judge Aoun, and informed her that it is necessary that she heads to his office at the Justice Palace in Beirut before noon next Monday.

Sources close to Aoun considered her summoning a political campaign against her.

Hobeich welcomed Friday the summoning of the judge.

“I have never threatened Judge Aoun, but only raised my voice against the violations she committed against me and many other lawyers,” Hobeich told Asharq Al-Awsat.

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US Pressures Lebanon to Issue Cabinet Decision to Disarm Hezbollah Before Talks Continue

US Ambassador to Türkiye and US special envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack meets with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in Beirut, Lebanon July 21, 2025. (Reuters)
US Ambassador to Türkiye and US special envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack meets with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in Beirut, Lebanon July 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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US Pressures Lebanon to Issue Cabinet Decision to Disarm Hezbollah Before Talks Continue

US Ambassador to Türkiye and US special envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack meets with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in Beirut, Lebanon July 21, 2025. (Reuters)
US Ambassador to Türkiye and US special envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack meets with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in Beirut, Lebanon July 21, 2025. (Reuters)

Washington is ramping up pressure on Beirut to swiftly issue a formal cabinet decision committing to disarm Hezbollah before talks can resume on a halt to Israel's military operations in Lebanon, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Without a public commitment from Lebanese ministers, the US will no longer dispatch US envoy Thomas Barrack to Beirut for negotiations with Lebanese officials, or pressure Israel either to stop airstrikes or pull its troops from south Lebanon, according to the sources, who include two Lebanese officials, two diplomats and a Lebanese source familiar with the matter.

The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Washington and Beirut have been in talks for nearly six weeks on a US roadmap to fully disarm the Lebanese Hezbollah party in exchange for Israel to end its strikes and withdraw its troops from five points in southern Lebanon.

The original proposal included a condition that Lebanon's government pass a cabinet decision pledging to disarm Hezbollah. Hezbollah has publicly refused to hand over its arsenal in full, but the group has privately weighed scaling it back.

The group, designated a terrorist organization by the US and much of the West, has also told Lebanese officials that Israel must take the first step by withdrawing its troops and stopping drone strikes on Hezbollah fighters and arms depots.

Hezbollah's main ally, Lebanese speaker of parliament Nabih Berri, asked the US to ensure that Israel halt its strikes as a first step, in order to fully implement the ceasefire agreed last year that ended months of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, according to four of the sources.

Israel rejected Berri's proposal late last week, the four sources said. There was no immediate response from the Israeli prime minister's office to questions from Reuters on the issue.

The US then began insisting that a cabinet vote take place imminently, all the sources said.

"The US is saying there's no more Barrack, no more papers back and forth - the council of ministers should take a decision and then we can keep discussing. They cannot wait any longer," the Lebanese source said.

The source and the Lebanese officials said Prime Minister Nawaf Salam would seek to hold a session in the coming days. Barrack met Salam in Beirut last week and said Washington cannot "compel" Israel to do anything.

In a post on X after his visit, Barrack said that "as long as Hezbollah retains arms, words will not suffice. The government and Hezbollah need to fully commit and act now in order to not consign the Lebanese people to the stumbling status quo."

All the sources said that Lebanon's rulers fear that a failure to issue a clear commitment to disarm Hezbollah could trigger escalated Israeli strikes, including on Beirut.