Defense Minister: Lebanese army ready to confront Israel
Lebanon’s Minister of National Defense in the caretaker government has vowed that the Lebanese army is ready to confront any confrontation with the Israeli army and warned that the escalation in South Lebanon threatens the country’s security and stability.
In a meeting with his Italian counterpart Guido Crosetto, Lebanon’s Defense Minister Maurice Salim stressed that the Lebanese army is at its utmost readiness to confront any aggression.
He also reassured that “the latest developments in South Lebanon are a direct threat to its stability and security.”
Salim reiterated that the Lebanese army was and will remain keen on preserving high levels of cooperation with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL forces), in order to preserve calm at the borders in South Lebanon.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Salim praised Italy for its role in peacekeeping in Lebanon and the ongoing coordination between the Lebanese army and the Italian battalion of the UNIFIL, and thanked Italy for the humanitarian and military aid it has been providing to the Lebanese army.
Meanwhile, Lebanon's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants stated on Friday that after consulting with Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Foreign Affairs Minister Abdallah Bou Habib instructed Lebanon's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York to submit an official complaint to the UN Security Council.
According to a statement published on MoFA's Twitter, the complaint will be regarding the impact of the Israeli bombing and "deliberate aggression" at Friday dawn in areas in southern Lebanon.
This, based on the Foreign Affairs Ministry, constitutes a flagrant violation of Lebanon's sovereignty and threatens the stability that the Lebanese south used to enjoy.
Lebanese local sources said Israel targeted the Qlaileh area located between the plain of Ras el-Ain and the Rashidieh refugee camp south of the city of Tyre.
The sources confirmed that three Israeli missiles landed south of Tyre, two of them in agricultural areas and another in the Qlaileh Plain, noting that the Israeli aggression did not result in significant casualties.
Earlier, the Israeli military announced striking certain targets inside Lebanon, from which dozens of rockets were fired earlier at the occupied territories in retaliation for Israel's crackdown on Palestinian worshipers at the al-Aqsa Mosque's compound.
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