March 14 Says Lebanese Should Ask Government to Have Decision of War and Peace
The March 14 alliance on Thursday urged the Lebanese people to back the government of Prime Minister Tammam Salam and ask it to take into its own hands the decision of war and peace.
Following a meeting, the alliance's general-secretariat encouraged “the Lebanese to stand united behind their government, and ask it to defend them and hold onto the decision of war and peace.”
“Hizbullah should not control our lives and interests as if we were nonexistent,” said the conferees a day after the deadliest escalation between the party and Israel since the 2006 war.
Wednesday's flare-up started when Hizbullah fired anti-tank missiles at an Israeli military convoy in the disputed border area of Shebaa Farms, killing two soldiers and wounding seven.
The attack was in retaliation for the deadly Israeli airstrike on Hizbullah fighters in the area of Quneitra that lies on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights on January 18.
Israel responded to the missiles with shelling, leaving a Spanish peacekeeper with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon dead.
The March 14 statement said that Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the war between Israel and Hizbullah in 2006, had clearly stated that the Lebanese government should exercise its full sovereignty, so that there will be no weapons without its consent and no authority other than that of the government.
Wednesday's clashes “go beyond the controversy on the right of Hizbullah to fight inside a disputed area and transcend talk about the U.N.-drawn Blue Line,” said the statement.
The flare-up is directly linked to the controversial issue of war and peace, said the conferees.
The Lebanese continue to ask themselves who takes such a decision and whether limiting the use of arms to the Lebanese army and security forces is necessary or not, they stressed.
The statement said that Lebanon cannot be governed through the balance of power imposed by regional decisions and illegitimate weapons.
Lebanon is ruled by “the law, the Constitution and legitimate institutions,” it added.
G.K.
M.T.
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