AhlulBayt News Agency: Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has said Israeli forces must withdraw from five strategic points they continue to occupy in southern Lebanon.
According to a report by Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA), Aoun made the remarks in a meeting on Monday with a delegation from the American Task Force on Lebanon (ATFL).
Edward Gabriel, the president of the task force, told the Lebanese president that Washington expected Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah and carry out the necessary reforms which he said would ensure the country’s access to financial support.
Aoun, for his part, stressed Lebanon’s commitment to the U.N. Resolution 1701. Highlighting the priority of de-escalation in southern Lebanon, he hailed peace efforts carried out in southern Litani by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
He called on the U.S. to push Israel into retreating from the five occupied areas in southern Lebanon, noting that Israeli presence in these areas would further complicate the situation.
Hezbollah is a Lebanese group, Aoun said, adding that the country would soon set out a strategy for national security and defense.
He said that different groups in Lebanon are struggling for the same goal “although there might be differences which are natural.”
A November ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel has been repeatedly breached by Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon. Israeli forces have also prevented the return of Lebanese refugees to their homes in some towns or villages in the south.
Israel had been due to complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon by February 18, after it missed a January deadline under the ceasefire.
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