The Lebanese Government announces the sending of 5,000 more soldiers south of the Litani River

MADRID 10 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lebanon, Abdullah Bu Habib, announced this Sunday that the Government will send 5,000 more soldiers to the south of the Litani River, in the border region with Israel, which means doubling the current contingent.

“Lebanon is determined to reinforce the deployment of its armed forces in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese Government has decided to recruit and train 1,500 soldiers as a preliminary step for sending 5,000 more soldiers who will join the 4,500 already present in the region,” Bu Habib announced from Riyadh, where he is participating in a ministerial summit of Arab countries.

The Lebanese official has asked for support from Arab countries to launch this initiative. “We also hope to have your support and help to cover the needs of this deployment,” he explained, according to the official Lebanese news agency, NNA.

“Lebanon needs more than ever the support of the Arab and Islamic worlds after knowing all the difficulties and crises, to stop the war to eliminate diversity and coexistence between religions and civilizations in Lebanon,” he appealed.

Bu Habib is in the Saudi capital to participate in the preparatory ministerial meeting for the Arab-Islamic Summit. From there he has once again defended the need for a ceasefire in the midst of the Israeli military offensive in Lebanese territory and to fully apply UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which covers the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. (FINL) and which contemplates the withdrawal of both Israel and Hezbollah militias between the Litani River and the Blue Line that serves as the border between the two countries.

“Lebanon has clearly expressed its support for a sustainable solution by first demanding an immediate ceasefire, the restoration of calm and stability on the border” through the implementation of Resolution 1701 “so that the only legitimate authority south of the Litani River is the authority of the Government of Lebanon” and that there be no weapons without the authorization of the Government.

Bu Habib recalled that “Israel kills dozens and sometimes hundreds of people every day systematically and does not distinguish between women, children and the elderly, health personnel, journalists and civilians.” The head of Lebanese Diplomacy has denounced that Israel “wants to create a no man’s land in the southern border area of ​​Lebanon with destruction and scorched, lifeless and uninhabitable land in what amounts to a new type of environmental terrorism that seeks to eliminate biological life.” and human.”

A quarter of the country’s population is already displaced. “Israel’s war against us tries to return us to the stone age,” he lamented.

The Israeli Army unleashed a new invasion of Lebanon on October 1 after several weeks of intense bombing and attacks against the country, including the coordinated explosion of thousands of communication devices, after more than eleven months of fighting with Hezbollah in the border area. .

The Government of Lebanon has estimated more than 3,100 dead and almost 14,000 injured due to the attacks carried out by Israel since October 8, 2023, after the militia party began firing projectiles in support of the groups. Palestinians as a result of the attacks carried out the day before against Israeli territory.