Lebanese PM Denounces Hezbollah’s Armed Maneuver in the South

Beirut / Naim Berjawi / Anadolu Agency

On Friday, Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati denounced the armed maneuver carried out by the “Hezbollah” group in the south of the country about two weeks ago.

This came in an interview made by Mikati to Euronews, according to a statement by the media office of the Lebanese government presidency.

On May 21, Hezbollah fighters carried out a military maneuver in the south of the country, simulating storming settlements, taking control of Israeli military sites, and capturing soldiers.

Commenting on this, Mikati said: “No one dominates the Lebanese state (…) and we do not accept the existence of a state within a state, and I am the first to criticize any practices that may affect the country’s sovereignty.”

The statement pointed out that, “with regard to the recent maneuvers carried out by Hezbollah, Mikati expressed his” denunciation of them,” stressing that “the solution to this matter is not in the hands of the Lebanese government, but rather requires a comprehensive and complete Lebanese consensus regarding Hezbollah’s weapons.”

Mikati continued, “I will never allow Hezbollah’s weapons to be used internally, and I am committed to the ministerial statement (the program) of my government in terms of resisting the Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory,” according to the same statement.

He pointed out that “the Arab summit issued recommendations that distinguished between terrorism and the weapon of resistance, and this is the official Lebanese position, as the party (Hezbollah) is resistant until the liberation of the occupied Lebanese lands, and this is contained in the ministerial statement.”

In this context, Mikati called on “Israel to get out of the occupied Lebanese territories so that we will no longer have a justification for using these weapons, neither as resistance nor at home,” according to the same statement.

While Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, after more than two decades of its occupation, it still occupies a small area of ​​its lands, which are the Shebaa Farms, the Kfar Shuba Hills, and part of the village of Ghajar.

Hezbollah possesses an arsenal of weapons and missiles, and has fought several battles with the Israeli army, in addition to border skirmishes between the two parties from time to time.

Although the group says that its weapons are exclusively devoted to defending Lebanon against Israel, Lebanese political forces accuse it of “threatening” the domestic arena with it.

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