Aoun: “Those Who Fired the Missiles Sought to Topple the Lebanese State”

At the invitation of European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Lebanese President Jouad Aoun participated in a virtual meeting via Zoom, explaining the situation in Lebanon in light of Israeli attacks, stating:

“I speak to you now while more than 600,000 of my citizens are displaced. Some are on the streets, without shelter or even basic necessities. Over 400 of my people have been killed in just a few days, including 83 children and 42 women, along with more than 1,100 wounded.”

“The immediate cause of this situation is that my country is being trapped between aggression that disregards the laws of war and international law, especially international humanitarian law, and an armed faction outside the Lebanese state that does not care about Lebanon’s interests or the lives of its people.”

“Moreover, what happened on the early morning of Monday, March 2, with the firing of a few missiles from Lebanon into Israel, was a nearly transparent trap aimed at Lebanon, the Lebanese state, and its people.”

“Consider the logical and rational questions: Did these few limited missiles (six in total, ineffective and non-functional) play a decisive role in the confrontation between the Iranian regime and Israel, or between Israel and Lebanon? Of course not. Did they serve as a deterrent against Israeli retaliatory attacks on Lebanon and its people? Absolutely not. On the contrary. Did they provide, even on an emotional level, convincing revenge for the assassination of Supreme Leader Khamenei? Certainly not.”

“We believe what happened was a trap set for Lebanon and the Lebanese armed forces. The intent was to lure the Israeli army into Lebanese territory, to occupy some areas, and possibly even take control of them. This would have forced Lebanon into a direct confrontation with Israeli aggression, which disregards all legal and humanitarian constraints, turning Lebanon into a ‘second Gaza’ and displacing over two million Lebanese, leaving them homeless and potentially stateless, leading to the collapse of the Lebanese state from outside.”

“The alternative would have been withdrawing from the confrontation, allowing the armed faction to claim, through a populist campaign under a misleading slogan, that the state is incapable of protecting its people. This would justify its illegal and unauthorized weapons, allegedly ‘necessary and legitimate,’ and would ultimately undermine the Lebanese state from within.”