President Aoun on 'Resistance and Liberation Day': Negotiation will not be a concession nor a surrender

President of the Republic Joseph Aoun considered that "on this day in the year two thousand, the south wrote an unprecedented epic when the Israeli occupation withdrew as a result of the resilience and sacrifices of the people of this land, making the twenty-fifth of May a day of national dignity."

He pointed out that "the anniversary of liberation comes this year while Lebanon is suffering under the weight of a painful reality; Israeli attacks have not stopped, and dear southern villages still groan under the weight of a renewed occupation in a flagrant violation of all international resolutions, foremost among them Resolution 1701. Lebanon will not accept this reality nor will it normalize with it, and the path to a full Israeli withdrawal will remain a firm national demand that is not relinquished, which the Lebanese state is working to achieve through the option of negotiation, which will not be a concession nor a surrender, but rather an affirmation of the exclusivity of Lebanon's right to protect its land and sovereignty and to 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 fateful decisions in this direction expressing a very important national will to restore full sovereignty. Needless to say, the army will remain the sole guarantor of national security and territorial safety."

Aoun affirmed that "those who liberated the south with their blood, military and resistance fighters, as well as all Lebanese, deserve a strong state cohesive with the legitimacy of its civil and military institutions, just with laws that have no discrimination, and united by the will of its people and their solidarity.

The greatest loyalty to the memory of liberation is to build a state that is a fortress for all Lebanese, and in which sovereignty is a trust carried by every citizen, because Lebanon is for all of us, and the liberation of the south is a duty borne by the state with the support of its sons because it is ultimately the irreplaceable choice."