Nabih Berri Rejects Agreement With Israel
Nabih Berri said the framework agreement with Israel will not be accepted in its current form because it does not guarantee Lebanon’s rights.
The framework agreement signed with Israel through U.S. mediation will not be accepted because it does not guarantee Lebanon’s rights, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, said today, according to Agence France-Presse.
This agreement will not be accepted and will not be implemented in its current form, Berri said in a communiqué issued by his Amal movement. The speaker of parliament noted that the agreement had been imposed by dictate and was not one that protected Lebanon’s rights.
The framework agreement, signed on Friday in Washington, aims to lay the foundations for lasting peace between Lebanon and Israel. One of its main provisions is the disarmament of Hezbollah.
Hezbollah, for its part, said today that it reserves the right to defend its homeland after new Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, despite the framework agreement signed on Friday. In a communiqué, the movement stressed that the enemy’s actions constitute a gross violation of the ceasefire and that it is monitoring and documenting all such violations, while reserving the right to defend its homeland and its people.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said earlier in a joint statement that Israeli forces had destroyed a 200-meter tunnel used by Hezbollah in the town of Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon. Hundreds of weapons and launchers were found inside.