Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Saturday that there are currently no negotiations with Israel, during a surprise visit to the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh accompanied by a military delegation. Aoun toured the city to inspect the damage and hear residents’ complaints amid fears of escalating Israeli raids and explosions.
Aoun sets out the government’s principles for the south
Aoun stressed that withdrawal, the return of prisoners and displaced people to the south, and reconstruction represent national principles that the government is committed to implementing. He also said the state would not abandon the south and stood alongside all its citizens. The visit came after demolition operations in the Ali al-Taher heights and the town of Mansouri, amid intensified Israeli raids on southern Lebanon in recent days.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said his country was ready to continue its campaign and strike Hezbollah at additional sites, following a wide-ranging operation to destroy the group’s underground infrastructure at the Ali al-Taher hill. Aoun’s remarks coincided with a U.S. official’s confirmation that the next round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, scheduled to take place in Rome, had been postponed until October.
