Naharnet

Aoun Calls Israeli Attacks on Dahiyeh, Qusaya a 'Declaration of War'

President Michel Aoun on Monday described the weekend Israeli attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern border region of Qusaya as a “declaration of war.”

“The attacks on Dahiyeh and the Qusaya region violate (U.N. Security Council) Resolution 1701, and its stipulations that bind Lebanon should also be binding for Israel,” Aoun told U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis during a meeting in Beiteddine.

“What happened resembles a declaration of war that entitles us to resort to our right to defend our sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity,” Aoun added.

“We are people who seek peace, not war, but we do not accept to be threatened by anyone in any manner,” the president underlined.

"I have repeatedly said before that Lebanon will not fire a single shot from its border unless it is in self-defense," said Aoun.

"What happened yesterday allows us to exercise this right," he added.

One drone came down and another exploded early Sunday in a Hizbullah stronghold in the southern Beirut suburb of Mouawad, damaging a Hizbullah media center and lightly injuring three people who were in the building.

And on Monday, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command said an Israeli drone had bombed its base in the Lebanese eastern border region of Qusaya overnight.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had on Sunday vowed to "do everything" to thwart future drone attacks in Lebanon. He also pledged to retaliate from Lebanon against any Israeli attack that kills Hizbullah members in Syria.

Source: Naharnet


Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/264117