The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued a stern warning Wednesday, urging the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to accelerate the implementation of a US-brokered ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel or face a potential reassessment of American military aid to Beirut.

Under the ceasefire agreement reached last November, Hezbollah is required to withdraw its fighters and weapons at least 20 miles north of the Lebanese-Israeli border. In return, Israel is to fully withdraw from remaining occupied Lebanese territories while the LAF assumes control of the vacated Hezbollah and Israeli positions.

“We are at a critical moment in Lebanon. The Lebanese people have an opportunity to break Iran’s stranglehold on Beirut,” Senators Jim Risch and Jeanne Shaheen said.

While both lawmakers reaffirmed strong bipartisan support for the LAF—calling it the most effective counterweight to Hezbollah’s influence—they expressed frustration over being “too slow” in fulfilling ceasefire commitments.

Following the yearlong war between Israel and Hezbollah, the former destroyed much of the Iran-backed group’s weapons stockpiles and decapitated its leadership. “The US should be prepared to expand assistance to the LAF to support expeditious fulfillment of the ceasefire obligations. However, any LAF hesitancy to meet the security challenges in the south would be deeply concerning and force the United States to re-evaluate its approach,” Risch and Shaheen said.

Al Arabiya English reported last week that US officials and lawmakers are expected to press the Lebanese government over the slow pace of the LAF’s deployment to the south after the Trump administration made it clear that Hezbollah must relinquish its weapons or risk severe cuts—or even the elimination—of US aid to Lebanon. Officials have warned that if the LAF fails to persuade Hezbollah to disarm, Israel may resume at a greater pace its attacks on the group’s arsenal.

The White House told Al Arabiya English that the US would judge the new Lebanese government based on whether it acts against “the finances and terrorist capabilities of Hezbollah, to ensure that Hezbollah can never again incite a destructive war with Israel or any of Lebanon’s other neighbors.”

Morgan Ortagus, the White House official overseeing the Trump administration’s Lebanon policy, is expected to visit Beirut soon. During her last visit, Ortagus outlined key conditions by which the new government would be judged, including the exclusion of Hezbollah from the cabinet. Hezbollah secured two ministerial appointments, with Lebanese officials arguing that the group’s parliamentary representation warranted political inclusion.

The call for action comes in the wake of major regional shifts. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated late last year, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia, ending decades of Baathist rule in Damascus. These developments paved the way for the election of Joseph Aoun as Lebanon’s president and Nawaf Salam as prime minister.

Aoun, a former LAF commander, and Salam, the former International Court of Justice president, were backed by the US, European powers, and Gulf states. Risch and Shaheen described their leadership as Lebanon’s best chance to reclaim sovereignty and build a more stable, prosperous future.

The senators also urged Salam’s government to move forward with IMF-recommended reforms, while cautioning against any accommodation of Hezbollah.

They singled out the three Shia cabinet ministers and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

“Speaker Nabih Berri, a longtime Hezbollah ally, must propel Lebanon into the future or risk returning to a broken government. Likewise, Ministers Rakan Nasreddine, Mohammad Haidar, and Yassine Jaber must fully support Lebanon’s revival,” they said. “The Lebanese people have done the work to take the first steps in that direction. Now it is up to Lebanon’s political leadership to deliver results on economic reforms, eliminating Hezbollah’s financial flows and bolstering the LAF as the legitimate security guarantor of the Lebanese people.”