The Executive of Lebanon has decided this Thursday to register an "urgent" complaint before the United Nations Security Council following the series of bombings launched the previous day by the Israeli Army against its territory, an offensive that in just one day has left more than 200 dead and around a thousand wounded.
The announcement has been made by the prime minister, Nawaf Salam, upon concluding a cabinet meeting in which the country's president, Joseph Aoun, was also present. The head of government has warned that "this dangerous escalation defies all international and regional efforts to stop the war in the region and flagrantly violates the principles of International Law and International Humanitarian Law." "In fact, it persists in its violation," he stressed.
In parallel, the cabinet has instructed the Army and security forces to "reinforce the total control of the State over the province of Beirut and limit the possession of weapons exclusively to the legitimate forces that rigorously apply the laws and adopt all necessary measures against offenders, referring them to the competent jurisdiction", an order that they must apply "immediately".
Salam has specified that this directive is based on the Taif Agreements of 1989, which ended 15 years of civil war and included the disarmament of militias, without expressly citing the Shiite party-militia Hezbollah, and has insisted that the purpose is to protect the security of the population and their properties.
"The number of army and security forces personnel has been increased and patrols have been intensified, but that is not enough; it is necessary to reinforce the deployment of legitimate security forces and extend the authority of the State in the administrative province of Beirut, as well as restrict the possession of weapons to legitimate forces and prevent the presence of illegal armed groups, in order to guarantee the security of the inhabitants of Beirut and those who reside in it, and to prevent any attempt to alter security and terrorize citizens", he explained.
Aoun, for his part, has stressed that Lebanon is "a State with its own entity and existence, and it is the State that negotiates on its own behalf." "We do not accept that anyone else negotiates on our behalf. We have the capacity and the resources to negotiate, and therefore, we do not want anyone to negotiate on our behalf. This is something we do not accept," he concluded.
The president added that "we are tired of expressions of condemnation, and we all hoped that the ceasefire would include Lebanon, but unfortunately they heard the statements issued in this regard", in reference to the fact that the United States and Israel have ruled out that the twelve-day truce agreed with Iran extends to Beirut, despite what was stated by Pakistan, mediator between Tehran and Washington.