Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said diplomatic efforts had helped to keep Lebanon away from war, despite Israeli attacks that killed at least three people on Thursday.
“Diplomatic contacts have not stopped in order to push back the spectre of war,” Mr Aoun was quoted by state media as saying, after meeting Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al Rai. “I tell you that the spectre of war has been kept away from Lebanon and matters will move in a positive direction, God willing.”
The President was speaking after media reports indicated Israel was considering an escalation in Lebanon, citing what it has described as a lack of willingness to disarm Hezbollah.
The Lebanese army has rejected those claims, accusing Israel of spreading misinformation. It said the first phase of Hezbollah’s disarmament near the southern border is set to be completed by the end of the year, in line with arrangements.
The army added subsequent phases, which would involve disarmament in other areas, would take into account all security risks and national considerations.
Hezbollah has rejected calls to disarm across Lebanon, warning that any attempt to do so by force could push the country into civil war. The group has instead called for dialogue over what it describes as a national “defence strategy” against Israel.
While Lebanon has not faced a full-scale escalation, Israel has continued near-daily strikes, repeated breaches of the ceasefire agreement reached with Hezbollah last year.
Israel's military said it killed a member of Iran's Quds Force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' overseas operations arm, in an air strike in the Ansariyah area of southern Lebanon on Thursday.
It said Hussein Mahmoud Marshad Al Jawhari had been involved in planning terrorist attacks on Israel from Syria and Lebanon.
The military also said it struck a Hezbollah member in the area of Al Jumayjimah in southern Lebanon.
At least two people were killed in an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle near the Syrian border earlier on Thursday, Lebanese state media reported. The Israeli military said it attacked what it described a “terror operative” in Nasiriyah, in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, without specifying to which group the target belonged.
“Next year, we will witness the birth of a new Lebanon and a state of accountability, a state of institutions, not a state of parties and sects,” said Mr Aoun. “There is a bleeding wound in the south and with the birth of a new Lebanon, God willing, we will put an end to wars and live in peace.”
