Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Monday that Lebanon supports returning to the 1949 armistice agreement with Israel in an interview with the Qatari state-run Al Jazeera television network.
The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria and marked the end of the hostilities in relation to Israel’s War of Independence.
Aoun also said in the interview that the Lebanese army had discovered tunnels and ammunition depots in both the southern and northern parts of the Litani River, describing the army’s achievements in this regard as significant.Lebanon’s army has not deployed across the entire border area in the South due to Israel’s occupation of five points, Aoun added.
Additionally, Aoun said that the army was “performing its duty and was ready to take responsibility for securing the borders.”
However, he also called for pressure to be applied on Israel, expressing his support for forming military, civilian, and technical committees to strengthen Lebanon’s southern borders.
Israel-Lebanon relations
Aoun addressed the relations between the Lebanese presidency and the Hezbollah terrorist group. He reportedly said that the decision to limit weapons to the state from Hezbollah had been made, and its implementation would occur through dialog, not force.
In the 1949 Armistice Agreement made with Lebanon, Israel consented to withdraw from the area that it occupied in southern Lebanon. An agreement was drawn up that outlined the borders of Israel and its surrounding countries.
AMICHAI STEIN contributed to this report.