Aoun: Israeli attacks send a negative message to negotiations.. Berr: We will cement our unity.. Salam: The security of our people is not up for negotiation

Beirut - Mansour Shaaban: Lebanese President General Joseph Aoun condemned the ongoing Israeli attacks on southern areas, particularly in Nabatieh and its surroundings, and denounced the repeated violations of the “Framework Agreement,” the work of the Military Coordination Group, and international laws mandating the protection of civilians. The latest airstrikes yesterday resulted in the death of an entire family in the town of Ansar.

President Aoun considered these Israeli violations to be a clear negative message to the negotiation process and to US efforts aimed at implementing the “Framework Agreement.”

Commenting on the actions of the Israeli air force in Ansar and Deir al-Zahrani, as well as attacks on Mansouriya and Nabatieh and villages in its district, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri stated in a statement: “The two massacres carried out by Israeli occupation aircraft in Ansar and Deir al-Zahrani, which resulted in the killing of a family in its entirety, mostly women and children, fall within the context of completing a war of extermination. The Israeli machinery of killing and destruction continues to wage this war against stone and flesh, heritage, and everything connected to human life in the South. This clearly proves that Israeli political and military levels do not attach any weight to agreements, laws, or efforts to end the war and tension in Lebanon and the region.”

President Berri added: “The aggression against Ansar, Deir al-Zahrani, Mansouriya, and villages in the Nabatieh district is a call, sealed with the blood of children and women, to all Lebanese. It is a call to approach the Israeli aggression, its repercussions, and its dimensions through a national perspective, free from any sectarian, confessional, or partisan forms. This aggression is a call to consolidate the atmosphere of national unity. It is also addressed to the patrons of negotiations and ceasefire agreements to bear their responsibility in stopping the war of extermination before it is too late.”

For his part, Prime Minister Dr. Nawaf Salam stated: “The Israeli escalation in the city of Nabatieh and the towns of Ansar and Deir al-Zahrani, along with the accompanying airstrikes, heavy shelling, and intimidation of residents in their homes, is a matter of grave danger that undermines efforts to stabilize the South.”

He noted that the seven victims of the Israeli airstrike in Ansar were not “military infrastructure,” adding, “The children and women who were killed are not military targets. The responsibility for dealing with any military infrastructure, if it exists on Lebanese territory, lies exclusively with the Lebanese state through the Lebanese Army and its legitimate institutions. Their existence does not grant Israel the right to violate Lebanese land or endanger civilians.”

President Salam stressed that Israel must halt this escalation: “The security of our people and their right to life on their land are not subject to negotiation or compromise.”

In Bkerke, Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rai presided over the Mass for the Feast of the Assumption. In his homily, before he was informed of what had occurred in the south, he said: “We look forward to the ongoing negotiations in Rome, concerning the South and sovereignty, leading to an end to Lebanon’s suffering, the stability of the South, the safe return of its people, the resumption of reconstruction efforts, and the restoration of the state’s full role and sovereignty, supported by its army in safeguarding the homeland.”

He pointed out that “the Lebanese system is based on fair participation between Christians and Muslims in governance and administration, based on merit and expertise. The formula of Christian-Muslim coexistence is not to strengthen one side over the other, but to ensure the rights of all as Lebanese citizens, thereby granting each group its rights.”