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Netanyahu annexation claim
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that some Christian villages in southern Lebanon had asked to be annexed by Israel for protection from Hezbollah, as he told Fox News’s show “The Sunday Briefing” that “we protect them against the Hezbollah, Hezbollah fanatics who want to kill them.”
“we protect them against the Hezbollah, Hezbollah fanatics who want to kill them”
Lebanese Christian leaders in southern Lebanon rejected the claim, with Christian municipalities across the Marjayoun district issuing a joint statement dismissing it as “utterly devoid of truth” and reaffirming their commitment to Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Arab News reported that Christian communities from about 13 Christian-majority border villages insisted their futures lie solely with the Lebanese state, while warning they remain trapped between Israeli military operations and Hezbollah’s armed presence.
In Rmeish, civil activist Gaby Al-Hajj told Arab News that “For three years now, we have been suffering because the Lebanese state failed to extend its sovereignty over its own land,” describing residents as being “at the mercy of illegal weapons.”
Mayors deny, strike fears
The National quoted Debel mayor Joseph Attieh saying, “Whatever he says, we've never asked anyone for protection,” and adding, “We have the Lebanese state and we will stay Lebanese.”
Hana Daher, mayor of Qlayaa, told The National that “Let them kill each other and leave us out of it,” after Netanyahu claimed Christian villages sought annexation to be protected from Hezbollah.
The National also reported that several village mayors said they felt they had little choice but to comply with Israeli demands after invading southern Lebanon in March, expelling displaced families out of fear people affiliated with Hezbollah could be among them.
Arab News said the villages reaffirmed that, since the outbreak of the Israel-Hezbollah war, they ensured coordination with Lebanese authorities, religious leaders and international bodies to keep humanitarian corridors open, maintaining continued links between border communities and Lebanese state institutions.
Occupation and state authority
The National framed the stakes around fears of prolonged occupation, saying the framework agreed in late June aimed at disarming Hezbollah and restoring Lebanese state control over the south but set no timetable for implementation.
“the persistence of the occupation undermines the legitimacy of the state”
It reported that critics dismissed the framework as too vague to be workable, while warning that about 500,000 displaced people—predominantly Shiite Muslims—may not be permitted to return south.
Xinhua reported that Lebanese president Joseph Aoun called for pressure on Israel to withdraw from areas it occupies, saying that “the persistence of the occupation undermines the legitimacy of the state and prevents the deployment of the army.”
Aoun also warned that “if Israel does not withdraw from the Lebanese territories, and if Israeli obstinacy in staying on these lands continues, the situation will not be in the interest of the goals set by the United States and Lebanon for restoring this country’s sovereignty, independence, and the strength of its institutions.”
