Berri tells UNSC delegation it's not acceptable to negotiate under fire
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri urged a United Nations Security Council delegation on Friday to pressure Israel to respect a year-old ceasefire and to halt its one-sided war on Lebanon.
Despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon and has also maintained troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems "strategic".
"It is not acceptable to negotiate under (Israeli) fire," Berri told the delegation Friday.
"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," he added, referring to a U.N. resolution that ended the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The U.N. delegation, accompanied by U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus, visited Damascus on Thursday and met Friday in Lebanon with President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. It is due to inspect the border area in southern Lebanon on Saturday.
The visit comes as Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives held their first direct talks in decades.
Source: Naharnet
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