Lebanese Forces MPs on a tour in souhtern Lebanon, July 23, 2026. (Photo: NNA)
SOUTH LEBANON — While touring the districts of Marjayoun and Hasbaya on Thursday, a delegation from the Lebanese Forces (LF) parliamentary bloc, "The Strong Republic," emphasized the need to strengthen the role of the state in South Lebanon. "The south must no longer remain a playground for other people’s score-settling," said MP Georges Okais, while his colleague Pierre Bou Assi asserted that "there is neither stability nor development without the state."
In Deir Mimas (Marjaoun), the first stop of the visit, Okais stated that the 19 MPs of the bloc were "mobilized to serve" the local population and to address their needs in social, security, educational and health matters. The MP also stressed that "the south must no longer remain a playground for other people’s score-settling on Lebanese territory," referring to Hezbollah, which drew Lebanon for a second time into war on March 2 by launching missiles at Israel in retaliation for the death of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, killed on the first day of the Israeli-U.S. offensive against Iran.
The lawmaker also said that residents of the area "deserve to live in dignity and to get the full attention of the Lebanese state." He added that, despite the difficulties, "the people of the south remain attached to the Lebanese state and army and want the state to be the sole authority responsible for protecting all Lebanese people."
After visiting the Christian village of Qlayaa, Pierre Bou Assi reaffirmed in Jdeidet Marjayoun that the LF’s stance in favor of the state’s monopoly on arms "isn’t new" but has been "a constant choice from the beginning." According to him, "extending the authority of the state over all Lebanese territory is the primary condition for stability." "How can you build an economy and create jobs while explosions keep going off? There is no development, no investment, no future without stability, and that can only be ensured by a strong state exercising its authority and assuming its responsibilities toward all Lebanese," he said. Bou Assi also assured that the bloc’s MPs would continue to work alongside residents and state administrations to help address issues related to development and services in the region.
The LF’s trip comes as Israeli forces still occupy more than 600 square kilometers of territory in southern Lebanon, devastated by the two recent Israeli wars. The framework agreement signed on June 26 between Lebanon and Israel, after the first direct negotiations between the two countries in decades, calls for the gradual Israeli withdrawal, dependent on the deployment of the Lebanese Army and the dismantling of Hezbollah’s infrastructure in "pilot zones."
The agreement began to be implemented Monday, with the deployment of Lebanese Army units in two of these areas in the central sector of southern Lebanon, in the villages of Srifa and Froun, where occupying forces had not been present, as well as in Zawtar Gharbieh, north of the Litani River, a locality previously under fire from Israeli troops still on its outskirts.
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