Global Politics01 August, 20263 min read
Joseph Aoun Calls For Full Lebanese Army Deployment Along Southern Border With Israel
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Aoun demands full deployment of Lebanese army along southern border to defend state. He insists weapons must be under state legitimacy; no non-state weapons allowed.
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Aoun backs full deployment
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Saturday that the Lebanese army’s responsibilities have grown amid developments in the country’s south bordering Israel and that the next phase requires the force’s full deployment along the southern frontier. In a presidential statement marking the 81st anniversary of the Lebanese Army, Aoun said the army is “the sole guarantor of Lebanon's unity, sovereignty, and independence.” Aoun argued that “there is no legitimacy for any weapons outside the legitimacy of the state, and there is no protection for Lebanon except through its national army,” and he said only the Lebanese army possesses “the decision-making authority, the capability, and the legitimacy” to serve as the state’s exclusive military force.
He said the army’s responsibility increases “with every step of Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory,” and called for “the next phase [to] require the full deployment of military units along the entire southern border and the exclusive extension of state authority over its territory.” Anadolu Ajansı reported that Israeli forces advanced more than 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) into Lebanese territory during their latest operations, while Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Israeli attacks since March 2 have killed over 4,300 people and injured over 12,200 others.
UNIFIL and U.S. support
Ici Beyrouth said Aoun reaffirmed on Saturday that “no one may hold weapons outside the legitimacy of the State,” and it quoted him stressing that the military institution remains “the sole guarantor of Lebanon’s unity, sovereignty and independence.” The same Ici Beyrouth report said Aoun called for a full deployment along the border to restore the State’s exclusive authority there and to allow the return of residents of border villages. Ici Beyrouth added that UNIFIL reaffirmed its commitment to support strengthening the Lebanese army’s deployment and the State’s authority in the south, while renewing its support for the implementation of UNSCR 1701 and the trilateral framework agreement concluded with Israel under U.S. auspices.
It also said the United States welcomed the Lebanese army’s commitment to defending the country’s sovereignty and security and recalled remarks by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Washington hopes to see Lebanese authorities gradually extend their authority over the entire national territory. The report further said the French concluded that building a “strong and sovereign” army, holding the monopoly on arms across the entire territory, is a necessity more than ever, reaffirming their support for the military institution.
Akhavan links executions to January
Iran International reported that former United Nations prosecutor Professor Payam Akhavan told its Eye for Iran that Iran’s latest wave of public hangings of protesters amounts to “killings” and “murders” that form part of a continuing crime against humanity. Akhavan said “There is no doubt that we have a crime against humanity,” and he argued that the executions cannot be separated from the mass killing of protesters during January's nationwide uprising. Iran International said the hangings followed days after Iran publicly hanged two protesters in Isfahan, Amirhossein Safari and Abolfazl Sepahi, on July 28 in Isfahan's Alikhani Square after accusing them of involvement in the killing of four police officers during the January 8 unrest.
It reported that UN human rights experts called on Iran to halt the executions one day before the hangings, warning that coerced confessions must not be admitted as evidence and that broadcasting them before trial violates the presumption of innocence. The article described a hunger strike by an estimated 1,500 death-row prisoners at Ghezel Hesar prison near Tehran as part of the “No to Executions” campaign, with Akhavan saying, “It becomes a form of murder or extrajudicial execution.”