Aoun: Lebanon ready to resume negotiations to end Israeli escalation

BEIRUT — President Joseph Aoun said Monday that Lebanon is ready to "resume negotiations and examine the necessary security points to end the dangerous Israeli escalation."

"Lebanon informed major powers and the United Nations of its full readiness to resume negotiations and to examine the necessary security points to put an end to the dangerous Israeli escalation," Aoun said during a meeting in Baabda Presidential Palace with the ambassadors of Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

As Israel stepped up attacks and attempts at ground incursions into southern Lebanon and the Bekaa, several members of the Lebanese Army were killed during the first of two incursions carried out this weekend in Nabi Sheet (Baalbeck).

Aoun said that the attacks targeting the Lebanese Army in the current context were "unacceptable, surprising and suspicious" because "they serve attempts to undermine the authority of the state and to question its capabilities."

According to him, they "align, in one way or another, with the objectives of those seeking to involve Lebanon in the regional war, by bypassing the will of the majority of Lebanese, who are weary of wars and their consequences, and who are committed to the exclusive right of the state to decide matters of war and peace."

"The government's decision regarding the monopoly of arms will be implemented according to the plan established by the army command when security conditions allow," Aoun added, after stating that "the continuing Israeli attacks on southern Beirut’s suburbs, the South and the Bekaa will not achieve the objectives pursued by Israel."

He also added that "Lebanon's position is firm," as stated in the Cabinet’s decision on March 2, regarding Lebanon’s full and final commitment to respect the terms of the November 2024 cease-fire, in order to preserve peace and stability, in return for the obligation of Israel to end its attacks on all Lebanese territory.

The three ambassadors finally confirmed the solidarity of their countries with Lebanon in this difficult period and their willingness to provide the necessary assistance to the Lebanese who have been displaced from their villages.