Report: State obtains guarantees from Hezbollah on staying out of war

The statement issued Sunday morning by President Joseph Aoun was followed by “a series of domestic and foreign contacts, especially with the Americans, that focused on keeping Lebanon away from war and abiding by neutrality,” the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Monday.

Lebanon also held phone talks with the French and the U.N., the daily added, revealing that the Lebanese state “communicated with Hezbollah to avoid intervention (in the Israel-Iran war) and obtained guarantees that there will be no participation.”

The Lebanese state had received a message from U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson, who asked that it be passed on to Hezbollah, according to media reports.

“Any action against any U.S. base or against U.S. interests in Lebanon will be met with a very harmful response,” the reports quoted Johnson as saying.