Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib stressed that “the balanced and full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 is the path to stability between Israel and Lebanon.”
Lebanon’s “primary objective is to strengthen the legitimate national authority as the guarantor of security and peace,” Bou Habib said at the opening of the Rome Conference on Mediterranean Dialogue, which was held on Monday on the sidelines of the G7 summit.
He also called on European nations to help “reinforce armed and security forces to defend and protect” Lebanese land.
Using the passage from resolution 1701 that states, “There will be no weapons without the consent of the Lebanese government, nor any authority other than that of the Lebanese government,” he declared, “Lebanon is ready to honor its obligations set out in the above-mentioned resolution.”
The establishment of an “immediate ceasefire and the deployment of additional Lebanese armed forces south of the Litani River” are two prerequisites for accomplishing this goal, he continued. “Lebanon will be able to expand its authority over its territory in collaboration with UNIFIL once these conditions have been met,” he concluded.
Ahead of the G7 meeting, Antonio Tajani, Italy’s head of diplomacy, emphasized the necessity of a truce in Gaza and Lebanon.
This is the first summit following Donald Trump’s reelection to the White House and the second G7 foreign ministers’ conference in Italy in 2024, following the one in Capri last April.
Tajani also stated that his nation supports the Lebanese Army, calling for the election of a president. Additionally, he condemned the aggression against UNIFIL soldiers in Lebanon, calling it “unacceptable.”
Bou Habib, for his part, lamented “these unjustified acts of hostility” and denounced the latest attack on UNIFIL’s Italian contingent.
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