BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun said on Monday Lebanon had a right to defend itself after Israeli drone strikes that he likened to a “declaration of war”.
Two drones crashed early on Sunday in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which are dominated by the heavily armed Hezbollah, prompting the movement to warn Israeli soldiers at the border to await a response.
In a Sunday speech, Hezbollah leader issued the toughest threats to his enemy in years and said the drone attacks had launched a “new phase”.
Only hours later, Israeli drones struck a military position belonging to a Palestinian faction in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley before dawn on Monday, the group said.
“What happened was similar to a declaration of war which allows us to resort to our right to defending our sovereignty,” Aoun’s office quoted him as saying on Twitter.
“We are a people seeking peace not war, and we don’t accept anyone threatening us in any war,” added Aoun.
The president discussed the “Israeli assault” with the country’s United Nations Special Coordinator Jan Kubis on Monday, the presidency said.
He told Kubis the strikes in the Dahyeh suburbs and in the Bekaa violated UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended a July 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri separately met Lebanon’s interior and defence ministers and army chief on Monday to discuss security issues, his office said, without elaborating.
Hariri, who has said the drones aimed to stir up regional tensions, is also due to meet the ambassadors of the UN Security Council’s five permanent members, his office said.
Although Israel has not claimed responsibility for the Beirut attack, Hezbollah leader Nasrallah described it as the first Israeli attack inside Lebanon since the 2006 war.
UN Resolution 1701 banned all unauthorised weapons between the Litani River in south Lebanon and the UN-monitored border between Israel and Lebanon.
PALESTINIAN BASE HIT
A Palestinian group too accused Israel of carrying out a drone attack on one of its positions in Lebanon.
A spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), said the strike caused only limited material damage.
“It was an Israeli strike with a drone,” spokesman Anwar Raja said.
Lebanon’s state National News Agency said “three hostile strikes” after midnight hit near the eastern town of Qusaya “where the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command has military posts”.
IRAQ PROBES STRIKE
Meanwhile, Iraq has launched an investigation into a purported Israeli strike that killed a paramilitary fighter, its military said on Monday, renewing fears of a proxy war in the battered country.
The attack struck a position held by Brigade 45, a Hashed al-Shaabi unit based near Iraq’s western border with Syria, killing one fighter and severely wounding a second. — Agencies
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