Lebanon asserts full compliance with Resolution 1701 amidst heightened tensions

Abdallah Bou Habib, Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs, emphasized that if there is an entire agreement with Israel to withdraw from all Lebanese-occupied territories, then Lebanon "wants the full implementation of Resolution 1701," a proposal "not objected to by anyone in Lebanon, including Hezbollah."

 

This article was originally published in and translated by the Pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat.

 He confirmed Lebanon's readiness to deploy an additional 7,000 soldiers from the army "if international assistance is secured to train army soldiers" and that Lebanon is "preparing the groundwork for negotiations to demarcate the land borders, which cannot be completed in the absence of a president."

Bou Habib stated in an interview with "Asharq al-Awsat" that most of the foreign proposals to resolve the crisis of war in the south "amount to the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters northward by 10 kilometers so that the Israelis return to their villages and northern settlements." 

He also added ''while Lebanon's position entails the full recovery of occupied territories, delineating borders between us and Israel according to the boundaries established in the 1949 armistice agreement, reclaiming the Shebaa Farms and Kfarchouba Hills," and halting land, sea, and air violations.

 It is worth noting that the border dispute between the two parties involves 13 border points, including point B1 and areas occupied by Israel north of the town of Ghajar, in addition to the Shebaa Farms and Kfarchouba Hills, which Israel occupied in 1967. Bou Habib said, "Upon completing this file, we will have stable borders."