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Berri rejects buffer zone
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri rejected any buffer zone or security belt in southern Lebanon and renewed his opposition to negotiations with Israel “under fire,” speaking in a televised address on the 48th anniversary of Imam Musa al-Sadr’s disappearance.
“rejected any buffer zone or security belt in southern Lebanon”
Shafaq News said Berri questioned what seven rounds of talks had achieved after the seventh round of US-brokered Lebanon-Israel talks concluded in Rome on August 6.
In the same televised remarks, Berri warned that “We will not accept the south being a buffer zone or security belt for anyone... and the people of the south will never be advocates of war, but guardians of the land and victims of Israeli aggression since 1948.”
Al-Manar TV reported that an Israeli bombing hit Khiam town in South Lebanon and also struck Zawtar Al-Sharqieh town in South Lebanon, as Berri affirmed his rejection of an Israeli buffer zone in the south.
Talks, red lines, and bombs
Berri tied his rejection of the “framework agreement” to the outcome of negotiations, saying the result after seven rounds was “an expansion of occupation and destruction, and Israel continues its war.”
The Shafaq News report said Berri argued that Israel’s objective was not Hezbollah, Amal, or the Shiite community alone, but Lebanon’s internal security, and that the conflict required a national approach beyond sectarian considerations.
In Daily Beirut’s account of Berri’s speech, he said “the current stage, with its existential threats to the south and to Lebanon, does not give anyone the right to speak on sovereignty issues under any pretext,” including under a “framework agreement” or “secret protocols.”
The Gulf newspaper Al-Manar TV also framed the immediate context as continued Israeli strikes in South Lebanon, while شينخوا described Berri’s remarks as rejecting fragmentation between the north and the Litani River and rejecting “experimental zones” for the occupier to test the army and local institutions.
Diplomacy vs escalation
Lebanese President Michel Aoun told Greek President Konstantinos Tasoulas in Athens that the Lebanese people are tired of wars and that Lebanon is determined to end the state of hostility with Israel through diplomacy, calling for full implementation of the framework agreement signed under American sponsorship.
“determined to end the state of hostility with Israel through diplomacy”
Al-Manar TV’s coverage of the same period described Israeli bombings in Khiam and Zawtar Al-Sharqieh in South Lebanon, while صحيفه الخليج reported that Israeli bombings caused a portion of Mount Qantara to collapse.
Aoun said the objective of negotiations with Israel is to end the state of hostility, but that the framework agreement cannot be implemented unilaterally, and he stressed that solving the problem by military means has not succeeded and will not succeed.
In the Daily Beirut account of Berri’s speech, he insisted that “civil peace, national unity, and the Lebanese army are red lines that cannot be crossed under any pretext,” and he said Lebanon’s right to pursue Israel for its crimes remains inalienable.