Lebanon says it is ready to implement resolution 1701 providing for the withdrawal of Hezbollah from the border with Israel

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Lebanon was ready to fully implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which includes the withdrawal of Hezbollah from the Lebanese region south of the Litani River, about 30 km from the border with Israel, learned Reuters after consulting a report following a meeting between the Lebanese authorities.

“Lebanon is ready to implement Resolution 1701 and, as soon as the ceasefire comes into force, to send the Lebanese army to the area south of the Litani River so that it can carry out all its functions there, in coordination with UN peacebuilders”announced Najib Mikati. He added that parliament would then meet to elect a consensus president, while Lebanon no longer has a president of the Republic since the departure of Michel Aoun in 2022.

Israeli strikes

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 ended the month-long war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006, and called for a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon and for the Lebanese army to and UN peacekeeping forces are the only armed forces south of the Litani River.

Israel has carried out several strikes in recent days against groups allied and supported by Iran, including the powerful Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed Friday in an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of the Shiite movement armed and financed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Lebanese Ministry of Health said on Monday that more than 1,000 Lebanese had been killed and 6,000 people injured over the past two weeks. A million people, or a fifth of the population, have fled their homes, according to the government.