The framework agreement with Israel does not legitimize the ongoing Israeli occupation of Lebanon, but aims to allow the national army to impose full control over the entire territory of the country.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said this during a meeting with academic and medical delegations at the Baabda presidential palace.
The statement comes amid growing internal political tensions in Lebanon. Critics and representatives of the pro-Iranian group Hezbollah described the document signed on June 26 with US mediation as a “capitulation“, as it ties Israel's withdrawal to the disarmament of the Shiite movement. According to analysts, this effectively gives Tel Aviv the right to maintain an indefinite military presence in southern Lebanon under the pretext that its security is threatened.
President Aoun categorically rejected these claims, defining diplomacy as a legitimate means of ending the conflict. “Strength does not lie in the ability to wage or maintain war, but in the courage to end it through negotiations, which are a battle without bloodshed“, the head of state said. He stressed that the Lebanese army is ready to assume full responsibility for stability and security in the southern regions immediately after the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the first agreed “pilot zones“.
The situation remains highly unstable. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already declared that his army will not leave southern Lebanon until “Hezbollah“ poses a threat, while human rights groups have expressed concern that the agreement could limit Lebanon's ability to prosecute Israel in international war crimes courts.
Source: L'Orient Today and Anadolu Agency