Lebanon is urged to deploy army on border, pull back Hezbollah and Palestinians
International contacts at the highest levels were held with Lebanese authorities after caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that Lebanon is still committed to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, a media report said.
“Lebanese authorities were urged to honor their pledges regarding the resolution,” the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Thursday.
“As long as Lebanon has declared its commitment to this resolution, the army and UNIFIL forces must be tasked with controlling the southern border and Hezbollah and the Palestinians must withdraw,” the daily quoted diplomatic sources as saying.
“An international message in this regard has been relayed to Speaker Nabih Berri and (caretaker) Prime Minister (Najib) Mikati,” the sources said.
“There is no other plan or solution other than this step, or else the so-called new rules of engagement, which Hezbollah is practicing, mean that there will be a possibility to descend into war in light of the number of victims on the two sides of the border,” the sources added.
The sources explained that in order to “eliminate the Hezbollah excuse that is linking the southern front to Israeli ground incursion into Gaza, and also to eliminate Israel’s excuse to wage a war, Lebanon will receive an international-American guarantee that there will be no war should it carry out the step related to the army and the U.N. forces.”
“The international community will then shoulder the responsibility of keeping Lebanon safe from war,” the sources added.
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