Lebanese leaders urge UNSC delegation to press Israel to respect ceasefire
A delegation of the U.N. Security Council and U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus met Friday with President Joseph Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. The three leaders urged the delegation to pressure Israel to respect a year-old ceasefire.
Aoun said after the meeting, in a statement on the X platform, that the delegation expressed its support for stability in Lebanon through the implementation of international resolutions, and the willingness to help in supporting the Lebanese Army, completing its deployment, and implementing the state's monopoly on arms.
Aoun had said Thursday that he would urge the delegation to help talks with Israel succeed after Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives held their first direct talks in decades on Wednesday under the auspices of a year-old ceasefire monitoring mechanism.
The delegation welcomed Lebanon's decision to add a Lebanese civilian to the ceasefire monitoring mechanism, while Aoun reaffirmed Lebanon's commitment to implementing international resolutions and urged the delegation to pressure Israel to commit as well, halt its attacks and withdraw from occupied territories in south Lebanon.
Ortagus later said, after meeting with Berri, that the talks were positive.
She said the Mechanism meetings will be better with civilians and lauded former Lebanese ambassador to the U.S., Simon Karam, who was appointed to lead the Lebanese delegation, saying that his profile is "impressive."
Berri had stressed that Karam's mission was "technical" not diplomatic, and that the man's mission is more important than his name. He told the delegation Friday that "it is not acceptable to negotiate under (Israeli) fire," urging it to halt the "one-sided" Israeli war on Lebanon.
"Stability in the south requires Israel's adherence to U.N. Resolution 1701 and the ceasefire agreement by halting its daily violations and withdrawing behind the international border," Berri said.
The UNSC delegation will also meet with Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji and Army chief Rodoplphe Haykal, and will head to southern Lebanon Saturday to check "the situation on the ground and see the real picture of what is happening there".
Slovenian U.N. ambassador Samuel Zbogar told a press conference on Monday that "the visit to Lebanon is the first official visit of the Security Council to the Middle East in six years" and that the trip comes "at a crucial time for the region", noting that the ceasefire is being daily "challenged".
The visit is important in "expressing support and solidarity" with Lebanon, he added.
Source: Naharnet
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