Al-Raie: Diplomacy faces a test in translating external moves into tangible results

Beirut - Mansour Shaaban: Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Ra'i affirmed that Lebanese diplomacy faces a test in transforming external initiatives into tangible results. In a mass attended yesterday by President of the Republic General Joseph Aoun, he added: "We all know the difficulty of the task and the magnitude of the challenges. But we also know that you have chosen to be president of one Lebanon and for all Lebanese, and that you are working tirelessly for the sovereignty of the state over its entire territory, for the dignity of the human being, and for a just and lasting peace."

Al-Ra'i said: "Lebanon today needs this kind of patience: patience that accompanies decision-making, dialogue, and serious work to establish a state capable of bearing its full responsibilities. Hence emerges the importance of discussions regarding support for the Lebanese Army, its arming, equipping, and empowerment of the state... What is required is to transform positions into practical steps, and to entrench the principle of a single, capable state that holds the monopoly on weapons and security decisions. The state also needs patience to build internal unity, bridge differences, and restore Lebanese trust in their institutions. Unity is not imposed by decree, nor is it built in a single session; it requires dialogue, shared will, and placing national interest above private calculations. Lebanese diplomacy remains at a test of transforming external initiatives into tangible results: supporting the state, addressing the future of the South, the post-UNIFIL era, weapon restriction, advancing negotiation tracks, and restoring political and economic support for Lebanon. What is needed is clarity of objective, continuity in action, and insistence on achieving results."

For his part, Leader of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir Geagea, emphasized during a mass titled "Dawn of Sovereignty" in the Akkar region that "the state is responsible for defending its people," considering that "without that, it is the end of Lebanon." He said: "We cannot imagine any decent life as long as Hezbollah's weapons remain."

Geagea said in video statements that "there are only the oppressed because they supported the Syrian revolution," adding: "Much injustice has occurred in Lebanon, which is why we proceeded with the general amnesty law."

On the ground, the Israeli military resorted to using Apache helicopters in its raids on southern villages and towns, targeting a commercial center on the Shoham-Meviadim highway, in addition to repeated air strikes on the buffer zone between Haris and Haddatha, and massive explosions on the outskirts of the towns of Braisheh and Beit Yahoun in the Bint Jbeil district. Several homes were demolished in Mansouriya, and raids were conducted on the Hammam area in the town of Khiam and Mays al-Jabal. This followed nighttime raids targeting Upper Nabatieh and the outskirts of Kafr Tabinat-Meviadim, where a house was completely destroyed, and artillery shelling hit Doha Kafr Raman, Wadi Zibqin, and the outskirts of Muzareat al-Shomariya and the town of Qa'aa, not to mention sweeps with heavy machine guns in the towns of Beit Yahoun, Sarbineh, and Wadi Zibqin.