MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/. Israel does not respect Lebanon’s sovereignty and has actually violated all red lines, Lebanese Ambassador to Russia Shawki Bou Nassar said in an interview with TASS.
"The red line for Lebanon is its sovereignty, integrity and its independence, of course; and the safety of its people is a red line. So Israel is violating all these red lines actually," he pointed out in response to a question.
According to the envoy, the situation in the country is very volatile, "changing day by day and hour by hour," and it’s hard to predict what Israel will do next. "What I'm sure and I'm certain about is that Lebanon and the Lebanese people, the Lebanese army will defend our territory, our sovereignty - as we said - by all means, by all available means; and I can assure you that Israel will never ever achieve what it is planning to achieve, which is stability and security in the border area and the return of its displaced people," the diplomat noted.
Importance of political solution
Shawki Bou Nassar is confident that Israel will not be able to achieve its goals only by military means "because the displaced people are on both sides of the border."
"The only solution that could guarantee the return of everybody to their homes, villages and regions is the political solution based on the UN Security Council Resolution, mainly Resolution 1701, adopted by the Security General in 2006. This resolution includes a lot of requirements and articles, and if implemented by both countries, Lebanon and Israel, it could lead to permanent stability and security in the whole area and peace in the area," the envoy explained.
He added that the Lebanese government was committed to implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1701 on a full cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, their replacement with Lebanese forces and UNIFIL units in southern Lebanon and the disarmament of armed groups. "The Lebanese government recently recruited 1,500 additional Lebanese army members to be sent to South Lebanon to join other Lebanese forces based in that area in compliance with the requirement of Resolution 1701. So Lebanon is ready to implement [Resolution] 1701 in full. But <...> are they (the Israelis - TASS) ready? Till now, all the political statements by Israeli officials make it clear that they don't want this resolution. They don't accept to imply it, to execute this resolution, to respect it, not at all," the Lebanese ambassador stressed.
Israel expects that "Lebanon should take all measures to protect the Israeli borders without giving any guarantee to the Lebanese side that they will respect international law and UN Security Council resolutions, which is the problem," he concluded.