Lebanese President Joseph Aoun stressed on Tuesday that his country has "cleaned vast areas south of the Litani River of illegal weapons".
Speaking to the diplomatic corps, he added that the plan to impose to state monopoly over arms and control over all of Lebanese territories "has been unprecedented in 40 years".
Lebanon is keen on preventing itself from being dragged into "suicidal adventures, whose price we paid dearly for in the past," he declared.
Without referring to Hezbollah, Aoun described as an "adventure" the Iran-backed party's decision to launch the "support war" against Israel in October 2023 in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza.
Aoun did not touch on Hezbollah's refusal to lay down its weapons in areas north of the Litani, which is the second phase of the state's plan to impose state monopoly over arms.
Aoun made his remarks days after Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem declared that the party would not lay down its weapons, deepening the rift between the president and the party.
Informed sources had previously told Asharq Al-Awsat that relations between the two sides had cooled in recent weeks with contacts between them at the "bare minimum".
Continuing his address to the diplomatic corps, Aoun said that since he was elected to office a year ago, Lebanon has not made a single violation of the ceasefire with Israel, save for two "individual incidents".
The authorities have since arrested the perpetrators, he added. In the meantime, the army is the sole party in control of the South.
He stressed that the army succeeded in imposing its control over the South "despite all provocations, ongoing Israeli attacks, criticism and accusations of treason."
The ceasefire, he noted, was agreed in November 2024, before he assumed office. "It is an international agreement that we respect" and that will prevent Lebanon from being dragged into "suicidal adventures," he went on to say.
Aoun hoped that during his second year in office, all Lebanese territories would come under the authority of the state alone and that all Lebanese prisoners held by Israel would be released. He hoped that reconstruction of areas destroyed by Israel in the war would kick off.
He also hoped that the entire country would come under the control of the armed forces alone, "so that Lebanon would not be dragged into the conflicts of others."
