Lebanon Affirms Right to Self-Defense against “Israeli” Aggression

By Staff, Agencies

The Lebanese have the right to defend themselves by any means against any “Israeli” attack, the Higher Defense Council said Tuesday. The decision, made after an emergency meeting of the council chaired by President Michel Aoun, came after Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah Sunday vowed retaliation for the drone attack, as well as for an “Israeli” strike in Syria that martyred two Hezbollah fighters.

It also came on the same day the “Israeli” entity’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran and Hezbollah that the entity “knows how to defend itself and how to pay back its enemies.”

The Higher Defense Council met at Beiteddine Palace, the president’s summer residence in the Chouf, to discuss the repercussions of the “‘Israeli’ aggression on Beirut’s southern suburbs and the Qusaya area in the Beqaa and take the appropriate decisions on them.”

“The Higher Defense Council underscored the right of the Lebanese to defend themselves by any means against any [‘Israeli’] attack. This right is consecrated in the United Nations Charter to prevent a recurrence of this attack on Lebanon, its people and its territories,” according to a statement issued after the meeting that was attended by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the defense, interior, finance, foreign affairs, economy and justice ministers, Army commander Gen. Joseph Aoun and heads of security agencies.

“National unity remains the strongest weapon against [‘Israeli’] aggression,” the statement said.

The council’s decisions to face the aftermath of the “Israeli” drone attack were shrouded in secrecy in line with the law, the statement said.

During the meeting, Aoun stressed the need to “defend Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity because this is a legitimate right.”

Hariri said the “Israeli” drone attack was the first of its kind since the 2006 war. “‘Israel’ intended [through this attack] to change the rules of engagement, thus threatening stability,” he said.

Hariri briefed the council on the contacts he had held with the representatives of the international community to enlist their support to stop “Israeli” violations of Lebanon’s territory. The premier told the council that Lebanon had filed a complaint to the UN Security Council through the Foreign Ministry against the attack. Emerging from the meeting, Hariri told reporters: “There is nothing to worry about. We fear only God.”

Hariri called on Russia to intervene to stop “Israel’s” violations of Lebanon’s territory, warning that the “Israeli” drone attack threatened to plunge the region into “grave escalation with unpredictable consequences.”

Hariri made the plea during a phone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“The ‘Israeli’ attack that targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs is a dangerous act, an attack on Lebanon’s sovereignty and a violation of [UN] Resolution 1701 which has established calm and stability [on the Lebanese-‘Israeli’ border] over the past years,” Hariri told Lavrov.

“Lebanon is counting on Russia’s role to avoid a slide toward further escalation and tension, and to send clear messages to ‘Israel’ on the need to stop violating Lebanon’s sovereignty,” Hariri added, according to a statement released by the premier’s media office.

The Russian Embassy released a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry in Moscow saying that Hariri “asked Russia to use its influence to prevent further tensions between ‘Israel’ and Lebanon that might threaten regional security.”

“The Russian side reaffirmed its commitment to friendly Lebanon’s sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and stability,” the statement said.