Rajji: Lebanon's Decisions Are Made in Beirut and We Will Not Be a Platform to Threaten the Gulf

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Youssef Rajji affirmed that "no state has the right to seek its regional ambitions through armed organizations operating outside the authority of states and their legitimate institutions," during a speech at the Middle East session of the Manama Dialogue, titled "Eastern Mediterranean: Meeting Point of Continents and Bridge to the Gulf."

Rajji said that "Lebanon has experienced over many years the devastating consequences of armed organizations turning into tools of external influence, and of national decision-making being subjected to regional calculations," noting that "ties with Gulf countries have proven resilient even amid tensions created by those who pledged Lebanon's interests to calculations that do not concern us and that we did not want."
He stressed that "decisions to restrict weapons to the state and ban Hezbollah's military and security activities are not merely political positions or declarations of intent," affirming that "Lebanon will no longer accept its territory being used as a platform to threaten the security of its Arab brothers, or to become an advanced defense line for other countries' interests."

Rajji added: "Foreign policy is determined in Beirut and national security is decided by the state alone," pointing out that "restoring full Lebanese sovereignty requires Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territories and the full implementation of Resolution 1701."
He also expressed Lebanon's aspiration to "renew political and strategic partnership with the Gulf, based on a shared conviction that a sovereign, stable, and prosperous Lebanon is not only a Lebanese interest but a strategic Arab interest."

Rajji affirmed that "the future of our region must not remain hostage to the ambitions of armed militias, or the calculations of external powers, or settlements made at the expense of our states' sovereignty and our peoples' interests."