Lebanese Leaders Condemn Escalating Israeli Attacks, Call for National Unity
According to the International Desk of Webangah News Agency, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri stated that recent Israeli airstrikes on the towns of Ansar and Deir ez-Zahrani, which resulted in the complete martyrdom of an entire family including women and children, are part of a genocide war. He asserted that the Israeli military is engaged in a campaign of killing and destruction against infrastructure and life in southern Lebanon. Berri added that these actions prove Israeli political and military authorities disregard all agreements, laws, and efforts to end the conflict and tension in Lebanon and the region. He emphasized that the attacks on Ansar, Deir ez-Zahrani, Mansouri, and the villages of Nabatieh serve as a call to all Lebanese, particularly political forces, to address the Israeli aggression and its implications from a national perspective, free from regional, sectarian, or party bias. The Speaker further called for strengthening national unity and urged proponents of negotiations and ceasefire agreements to halt the devastating war before it is too late. He concluded by praying for mercy for the martyrs and swift recovery for the injured.
Separately, the Muslim Scholars Association of Lebanon issued a statement in response to the Israeli regime’s atrocities in southern Lebanon, calling on the Lebanese government to immediately withdraw from the framework agreement. The association condemned the Israeli enemy’s crimes, especially the attack on a house in Ansar and the strike on Deir ez-Zahrani, which led to the martyrdom and injury of several citizens. The statement highlighted that targeting civilian homes and spilling the blood of children and women constitutes a full-fledged war crime and a clear violation of international humanitarian law and all international treaties and norms. It underscored that these crimes once again exposed the criminal nature of the Israeli enemy and its disregard for civilian lives and Lebanon’s sovereignty. The association also held the Lebanese government responsible for the current situation resulting from its acceptance of the framework agreement. It demanded immediate withdrawal from the agreement, alignment with the people and national options, adherence to the tripartite formula of the army, the people, and the resistance, and the cancellation of all decisions against the resistance. The statement also asserted that the United States is not neutral but an accomplice in the Israeli enemy’s crimes.
Sheikh Ahmad Qabalan, the Shia Jaafari Mufti of Lebanon, emphasized that there is no greater national sin than that of an executive apparatus hindering the army’s missions and defensive duties. He called on the Lebanese people to defend national unity and the framework of sovereignty, stating that no greater guarantee exists for Lebanon than that of the army, the resistance, and national unity. Qabalan attributed the killing of children and women in Ansar and Deir ez-Zahrani to the reliance on the compromising government’s trust in Washington and the terrorist Tel Aviv. He declared that the executive authorities bear responsibility for these events due to their betrayal of national security, and that the so-called framework agreement has resulted in a lack of trust in the Lebanese government and those alienated from patriotism who engage only in empty rhetoric.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army claimed to have assassinated Samir Al-Haj Hassan, a commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan Unit, in the town of Ansar in southern Lebanon.
