The Free Patriotic Movement issued the following statement:
With the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel entering into force, the Free Patriotic Movement sees a pivotal national opportunity that must be approached with the highest degree of responsibility, بعيدًا عن منطق تسجيل النقاط أو الاستثمار السياسي الضيّق.
The Movement calls on the government to set out a clear path that restores the state as the sole reference in sovereign, security, and military decision-making, and to take urgent measures to ensure the dignified and safe return of the displaced to their villages and homes in the south, in a way that prevents Israel from imposing any fait accompli based on emptying the land of its people, and that compels it to withdraw from occupied Lebanese territory.
The consolidation of the ceasefire can only be completed through a clear national commitment to the following constants:
First: The responsibility for defending Lebanon and protecting its borders and sovereignty is the exclusive responsibility of the Lebanese state, which alone must hold the decision of war and peace, and must extend its full authority over all Lebanese territory without exception. This requires Hezbollah’s weapons to be handed over to the Lebanese Army within a national framework that facilitates implementation, to be followed by an immediate national security plan that protects Lebanon, in exchange for international guarantees and declared UN resolutions that prevent any Israeli aggression.
Second: The Movement rejects any form of occupation, direct or indirect, and affirms Lebanon’s full right to recover all its territory and safeguard its rights and land and maritime resources, including gas, oil, and water resources, in accordance with international law and international legitimacy.
Third: The Movement calls for all Lebanese forces, foremost among them Hezbollah, to engage in the state project, in a way that strengthens the unity of national decision-making and fortifies the domestic arena against the dangers of division.
Fourth: The Movement believes that the coming phase requires the launch of a clear negotiating process with defined objectives, aimed at consolidating Lebanon’s sovereign rights, definitively demarcating its borders, and guaranteeing its security and stability away from any external pressures or dictates, and away from any imposed surrender path that would be shameful to Lebanon and unjust to its people.
Fifth: The Movement stresses the need to swiftly prepare a comprehensive national reconstruction plan, ensure the return of the displaced, and compensate those affected, in a way that restores trust between the state and the citizen.
As the Free Patriotic Movement follows this delicate phase, it affirms that building a strong, sovereign, free, and capable state is the only way to protect Lebanon from recurring wars and to turn any calm into lasting stability based on full sovereignty and independent national decision-making.
Lebanon can only be protected by its state, and its sovereignty can only be preserved through unity of its decision and the freedom of its will.
