Presidency: Baabda Declaration Does not Deal with Resistance Arms

An agreement reached among the country's rival leaders last year to steer Lebanon clear of the region's crises did not deal with the resistance's arms but should have paved way for the discussion of the national defense strategy, said a Baabda Palace statement on Thursday.

The rival leaders from the March 8 and March 14 alliances affirmed on June 11, 2012 commitment to the Taef Accord and agreed to keep Lebanon away from the policy of regional and international conflicts to spare it the negative repercussions of the regional crises.

Their agreement became known as the Baabda Declaration, which Thursday's presidential statement said was affirmed by three consecutive sessions.

“The Baabda Declaration did not include any text on the resistance and its arms and did not suggest ways to benefit from the resistance's capabilities,” said the statement read by Retired Brig. Gen. Bassam Yehia, the coordinator of the national dialogue committee.

“Such concepts came as part of the president's proposal of his vision on the defense strategy during a national dialogue session on Sept. 20, 2012,” he said.

During that session, the rival leaders considered the document “a mean to pave way for the agreement on the national defense strategy,” he said.

The statement said the declaration is closely linked to the national dialogue in addition to being officially adopted by the U.N. and Arab League.

The document forms a “unifying political framework” to exert efforts to defend the nation's sovereignty and draws a path to benefit from the country's capabilities to confront Israel, it added.

The explanatory statement came after both the March 8 and 14 alliances made different interpretations of the document.