President Aoun on the "Resistance and Liberation Anniversary": Negotiation Will Be Neither a Concession nor a Surrender

President of the Republic Joseph Aoun said that "on this day in 2000, the South wrote an unprecedented epic when the Israeli occupation withdrew as a result of the steadfastness of the people of this land and their sacrifices, making May 25 a day of collective national dignity."

He noted that "the anniversary of liberation comes this year as Lebanon groans under the weight of a painful reality: Israeli attacks have not ceased, and cherished southern villages are still suffering under the burden of a renewed occupation, in blatant violation of all international resolutions, foremost among them Resolution 1701. Lebanon will not accept this reality, nor will it make peace with it. The path toward a full Israeli withdrawal will remain a constant national demand on which there can be no compromise. The Lebanese state is working to achieve this through the option of negotiation, which will be neither a concession nor a surrender, but rather an affirmation of Lebanon’s exclusive right to protect its land, sovereignty, and extend its authority through its army and legitimate security forces, and thanks to the solidarity of its people and their rallying around their state, which has taken decisive decisions in this direction that express a highly significant national will to restore full sovereignty. Needless to say, the army will remain the sole guarantor of national security and territorial integrity."

Aoun stressed that "those who liberated the South with their blood — soldiers and resistance fighters, like all Lebanese — deserve a strong and cohesive state, grounded in the legitimacy of its civil and military institutions, just in its laws without discrimination, and united by the will and solidarity of its people.

The noblest way to honor the memory of liberation is to build a state that is a fortress for all Lebanese, one in which sovereignty is a trust borne by every citizen. Lebanon belongs to all of us, and the liberation of the South is a duty borne by the state with the support of its people, because in the end it is a choice for which there is no alternative."