Aoun calls for 'raids' on weapons depots in joint meeting at Baabda

BEIRUT — During a security meeting on Wednesday at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, President Joseph Aoun called for "raids" to be carried out in places "housing weapons depots," urging for a no-tolerance policy in the face of "armed demonstrations."

Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar, Defense Minister Michel Menassah, and the heads of the army and various security agencies were all in attendance at the meeting in which Aoun insisted on the "strict" application of measures adopted by the Cabinet to regain the state's monopoly on arms.

Aoun called for an increase in military and security personnel, both in Beirut and in other regions, emphasizing the importance of these officers and soldiers to conduct "raids on locations housing weapons depots, based on information received by the relevant services." "No tolerance" should be shown in the face of "armed demonstrations, regardless of their origin," he asserted. "No one is allowed to obstruct the implementation of security measures or undermine stability, as preserving civil peace at this stage in Lebanon's history is a red line," he stressed.

Aoun's new statements on weapons come as Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called on Lebanon to "work together" with Tel Aviv against Hezbollah, on the eve of a new meeting scheduled in Washington between the ambassadors of the two countries, aimed in particular at requesting an extension of the cease-fire period.

Some of those killed by Israel

Names and faces of those killed by Israel in its April 8 massacre

A ten-day truce was established on April 17, after 46 days of relentless war in which Israel killed 2,454 people and injured 7,658 others, many of them children. Despite the cease-fire currently in place, Israel has committed over 200 recorded violations, including several drone and air strikes across southern Lebanon, and continues to demolish homes, razing villages, and occupy swaths of Lebanese territory. Hezbollah, meanwhile, claimed two counter-attacks against Israeli positions, including rocket and drone fire launched Tuesday on northern Israel.

According to the text published Friday by the U.S. State Department regarding the terms of the truce, the Lebanese government must take concrete measures to disarm Hezbollah. The executive had already decided at the beginning of August to carry out this disarmament and regain the monopoly on arms. On March 2, the day the re-escalation of the war broke out in Lebanon, the government subsequently designated Hezbollah's military activities as "illegal," without however taking concrete measures in this regard, with the Lebanese Army citing missions hindered by Israeli strikes. And on April 9, a day after Israel killed at least 357 people in a series of coordinated attacks on Beirut and across the country, Nawaf Salam's government decided to "extend state control" in the capital and "ensure a monopoly on weapons" there.

In addition to these calls for action against weapons in the hands of non-state groups, Aoun praised the measures taken by the army since the cease-fire "to reopen roads, repair bridges, and facilitate the return of displaced people to their villages."

Aoun appelle à mener « des descentes » dans des dépôts d'armes