PM Mikati highlights army role in Lebanon’s security

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in Beirut (REUTERS)

• In Beirut, Iran’s foreign minister warns war could spread if bombardment of Gaza continues
• Mikati described the events in southern Lebanon, which has seen clashes following Hamas’s attack on Southern Israel on Oct. 7, as “concerning”

BEIRUT: Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has stressed the role of the Lebanese army in “protecting security and stability,” amid the turbulence along its southern border with Israel.
His remarks followed a Cabinet meeting on Thursday night also attended by security leaders.
Mikati described the events in southern Lebanon, which has seen clashes following Hamas’s attack on Southern Israel on Oct. 7, as “concerning.”
The prime minister said he asked “those in charge to be on high alert to face any emergency and support the government’s efforts in sparing Lebanon the repercussions of what is happening and maintaining security and citizens’ safety.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Friday that Lebanon’s security and peace “is important to us,” after meeting with Mikati.
“One of the goals of our trip is to stress on Lebanon’s security,” he said.
Amir-Abdollahian arrived in Beirut on Thursday evening and held talks with Lebanese officials, including Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
Amir-Abdollahian said: “What matters to us today is Lebanon’s security and peace. This is the goal of my visit.”
He suggested that a special meeting should be convened for the region’s leaders to study the situation.
Amir-Abdollahian said violence could spread to other parts of the Middle East if Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip, launched in retaliation for the Hamas attack that has left at least 1,200 Israelis dead, did not stop immediately.
Amid the continued Israeli military activity, Amir-Abdollahian said opening other fronts against the country “is possible.”
Caretaker Lebanese Interior Minister Abdallah Bou Habib clarified following his meeting with Amir-Abdollahian that Lebanon “has never wanted or sought war, and we warn that continued escalation will ignite the region and threaten its peace and security.”
Protests in solidarity with Gaza took place across Lebanon after Friday prayers.
Protesters including women and children waved the Palestinian flag and wore the Palestinian keffiyeh around their necks, while Palestinian refugees wore traditional clothes and chanted slogans denouncing Israel’s attacks on the people of the Gaza Strip.
One child held up a sign saying: “Kids like me should not be killed.”
However, solidarity demonstrations did not reach the Blue Line on Lebanon’s southern border.
The Lebanese Armed Forces set stringent security checkpoints adjacent to the Blue Line and checked the identities of all who approached.
Lebanese Army Chief Gen. Joseph Aoun informed the Cabinet on Thursday that his forces were conducting joint patrols with the UNIFIL to avoid violations.
A military source told Arab News that the situation was being controlled avoid any clash with mobilized Israeli troops on the other side of the border.
Fear prevails in many southern regions, where residents have fled their homes.
Elsewhere people took to the streets in Beirut’s working-class neighborhoods and southern suburbs and in the southern city of Tyre and its refugee camps.
They also gathered in Bekaa, praying in the street at the Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, under the slogan “a unified Friday for a sacred cause.”
Other demonstrations took place in the northern cities of Baalbek and Tripoli.
Imams from Beirut’s mosques called some of the protests, while others were organized by Hezbollah and its ally, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, in Beirut.
Sheikh Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s deputy chief, said before the protesters in a southern suburb of Beirut: “Al-Aqsa Flood operation is successful by all standards.”
Qassem stressed that Hezbollah was fully aware of its responsibilities.
“We are ready, and we are following up the events minute-by-minute.
“We will confront the situation based on our vision and plan. We are watching the enemy’s movements and are ready to act whenever the time is right.”