... to face Israeli threat

The head of the Lebanese Army has asked the military to be at “full readiness” to face “the Israeli enemy” at the southern border, according to the army’s Twitter account.

The army needs to be prepared to “confront the threats and violations of the Israeli enemy and its hostile intentions against Lebanon,” Joseph Aoun said on Tuesday.

General Aoun also urged the army to cooperate with United Nations forces in Lebanon under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted to resolve the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.

The statement comes after Lebanon’s president, Michel Aoun, claimed that “Israeli targeting still continues and it is the right of the Lebanese to resist it and foil its plans by all available means,” according to Reuters.

President Aoun’s remarks were echoed by Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, who also cautioned Israel against starting a war. Lebanon is ready to act, but will do its utmost to prevent Israel from invading, he told RT last week. “We should not be provoking Israel into a war simply because it is likely to lose it. We should restrain Israel from starting a war exactly because Lebanon is sure to win it,” he said.