The Grand Mufti of the Republic, Abdel Latif Derian, expressed his full support Saturday evening for the way Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, of Sunni faith, has been handling his mandate since his appointment last January following Joseph Aoun's election to the presidency. The Jaafari Mufti, Sheikh Ahmad Kabalan, on the other hand, called on the state to strengthen the defense capabilities of south Lebanon.

"Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is fulfilling his political and administrative duty by rescuing Lebanon and pulling it out of the dark tunnel it found itself in," the Derian said at an iftar hosted by the Islamic charitable association Makassed in Beirut, in the presence of the head of government. "Nawaf Salam, we are with you until peace returns to Lebanon," added the mufti.

Lebanon experienced one of its most violent days Saturday since the Hezbollah-Israel cease-fire, with the Israeli state launching numerous strikes on south Lebanon in response to three rockets fired from Lebanon towards Metoula and intercepted by Israeli defenses. The prime minister, whose government seeks to disarm militias and restore the state's monopoly on weapons, insisted on the necessity of the Lebanese state being the sole authority over the "decision of war and peace." On Friday, he declared that "the page on Hezbollah's weapons is turned," while the issue of the group's arsenal remains at the forefront of Lebanon's political scene.

In a statement published by the National News Agency, Sheikh Ahmad Kabalan, who that day considered that "erasing the resistance would equal erasing Lebanon and its sovereignty," reiterated on Sunday that there is a need to strengthen the survival means for the inhabitants of south Lebanon, particularly south of the Litani from where Hezbollah must withdraw according to the cease-fire terms. "A strong south [Lebanon] and a strong national partnership mean a strong Beirut and a strong Lebanon, and without that, the scourge of Israeli occupation of Lebanon," he stated.