President Michel Suleiman condemned on Thursday Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s recent threat against Lebanon, saying that it was a violation of international law and U.N. Security Council resolution 1701.
The president said that the threat was aimed at lifting the Israeli army and the new Israeli chief of staff’s morale “because he knows full well that entering Lebanon is no loner a walk in the park as demonstrated by the July 2006 war.”
He added that Barak believes that the current Lebanese tensions over the formation of a new government would be a suitable time for an Israeli assault.
Suleiman said that such an assault would backfire against the Jewish state because the Lebanese will retaliate with their army, people, and Resistance.
He therefore stressed the importance of internal unity and the need to form a new government in order to fortify the country against foreign threats.
The president is scheduled to travel to the Vatican on February 22 in order to attend the unveiling ceremony of a statue of Saint Maroun in the Saint Peter’s Square.
He is also expected to meet with Pope Benedict XVI on February 24, then return to Lebanon, and later travel to Kuwait on the 26th to attend Kuwait’s independence day celebrations.
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