Aoun: Hezbollah arms should be part of solutions agreed on by the Lebanese

President Joseph Aoun stressed Monday that “the army is responsible for protecting the border and it enjoys readiness.”

“Hold us accountable if it (the army) shows shortcomings,” Aoun added.

Moreover, he said that “Hezbollah’s arms should be part of solutions agreed on by the Lebanese.”

Expressing concern that Israel might not fully withdraw from south Lebanon by the February 18 deadline, the president added: “I won’t accept that a single Israeli stay on Lebanese soil, the war option is not useful because Lebanon can't bear a new war and we’ll work with diplomatic means.”

He also noted that the credibility of the U.S. and France is at stake and that “they are working to secure the Israeli withdrawal.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that the United States and Israel expect the Lebanese state to work towards disarming Iran-backed Hezbollah, which fought a war with Israel last year.

"In the case of Lebanon, our goals are aligned in the same. A strong Lebanese state that can take on and disarm Hezbollah," Rubio said in a joint address to reporters with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu for his part said "Hezbollah must be disarmed and Israel would prefer that the Lebanese Army do that job."

"But no one should doubt that Israel will do what it has to do to enforce the understandings of the ceasefire and defend our security," Netanyahu added.