Lebanon’s Presidency Denies Rumors About Deterioration of Aoun’s Health

 President Michel Aoun (NNA)
President Michel Aoun (NNA)
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Lebanon’s Presidency Denies Rumors About Deterioration of Aoun’s Health

 President Michel Aoun (NNA)
President Michel Aoun (NNA)

The Lebanese President’s Information Office replied Monday on the recently circulated rumors regarding the health of President Michel Aoun, asserting that security and judicial apparatuses will prosecute the perpetrators.

"Some people spread cheap rumors on social media that deal with the health of His Excellency President Michel Aoun, the latest of which are the fabricated accounts that were circulated in the past two days, in order to cause deliberate confusion in the country and spread concern in the hearts of citizens," the Presidency said.



The Information Office categorically denied these circulated news, which it described as “unfounded.”

It said their broadcasts are prohibited by the laws and regulations in force.

“Therefore, the security and judicial apparatuses will prosecute the perpetrators and their promoters and take appropriate measures against them," the statement said.

In the past few days, media reports circulated on social media that Aoun was seriously ill.

Some of those media reports even attributed a statement to the National News Agency regarding the death of Aoun.

"After midnight yesterday, unidentified persons circulated on the WhatsApp application, a rumor about the passing of the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, which included a false and unfounded scenario attributed to" the National News Agency',” NNA said.

"The agency categorically denies that it posted such news, and asserts that it has absolutely nothing to do with the fabricated accounts attributed to it, the purpose of which is to cause confusion," it explained in a statement.

In this regard, MP Ibrahim Kanaan of Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement published a video on his Twitter accout recording of himself and Aoun taking a walk in the Presidential Palace’s garden on Monday.

“My meeting today in Baabda with the President to discuss the latest economic, financial and social development,” the MP wrote.

Aoun, 85, is the oldest president in the Arab world.



US Envoy Reaffirms Backing for Damascus, Rules Out ‘Plan B’

US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
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US Envoy Reaffirms Backing for Damascus, Rules Out ‘Plan B’

US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

The United States will keep backing Syria’s government and has no “Plan B” to working with it to unite the war‑scarred country back together, still reeling from years of civil war and wracked by new sectarian violence, US envoy Tom Barrack said on Monday.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Barrack – Washington’s ambassador to Türkiye and special envoy for Syria, who is also on a short assignment in Lebanon – called last week’s Israeli strikes inside Syria “badly timed” and said they had “complicated efforts to stabilize the region.”

Barrack spoke in Beirut after more than a week of clashes in Sweida province between Druze militiamen and Sunni Bedouin tribes.

Over the weekend he brokered what he described as a limited ceasefire between Syria and Israel, aimed only at halting the fighting in Sweida. Syrian government troops have since redeployed in the area and evacuated civilians from both communities on Monday, he said.

Barrack told the AP that “the killing, the revenge, the massacres on both sides” are “intolerable,” but that “the current government of Syria, in my opinion, has conducted themselves as best they can as a nascent government with very few resources to address the multiplicity of issues that arise in trying to bring a diverse society together.”

Regarding Israel’s strikes on Syria, Barrack said: “The United States was not asked, nor did they participate in that decision, nor was it the United States’ responsibility in matters that Israel feels is for its own self-defense.”

However, he said Israel’s intervention “creates another very confusing chapter” and “came at a very bad time.”

Prior to the violence in Sweida, Israel and Syria had been in talks over security matters, while the Trump administration had been pushing them to move toward full normalization of diplomatic relations.

When the latest fighting erupted, “Israel’s view was that south of Damascus was this questionable zone, so that whatever happened militarily in that zone needed to be agreed upon and discussed with them,” Barrack said. “The new government (in Syria) coming in was not exactly of that belief.”

The ceasefire announced Saturday between Syria and Israel is a limited agreement addressing only the conflict in Sweida, he said. It does not address broader issues including Israel’s contention that the area south of Damascus should be a demilitarized zone.

In the discussions leading up to the ceasefire, Barrack said “both sides did the best they can” to reach agreement on specific questions related to the movement of Syrian forces and equipment from Damascus to Sweida.

He suggested that Israel would prefer to see Syria fragmented and divided rather than a strong central state in control of the country.

Later Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on X that Israel’s strikes “were the only way to stop the massacre of the Druze in Syria, the brothers of our brothers the Israeli Druze”.

Katz added: “Anyone who criticizes the attacks is unaware of the facts,” he continued. It was not clear if he was responding to Barrack’s comments.

Damascus has been negotiating with the Kurdish forces that control much of northeast Syria to implement an agreement that would merge the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces with the new national army.