Lebanon’s Aoun: Offer another solution beyond Israel framework

Shafaq News- Beirut

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun defended the US-mediated security framework with Israel on Sunday, stressing that he remained open to any alternative capable of sparing Lebanon from further wars.

“I am not enamored with Israel, but give me another solution to pursue, whatever it may be,” Aoun said during a meeting with journalists. He also argued that comparisons with the 1983 May 17 Agreement with Tel Aviv were misplaced because “today's circumstances are different.”

The US-brokered proposal, unveiled on June 26, outlines a phased Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in exchange for the deployment of the Lebanese Army and the disarmament of armed groups. Hezbollah and several political factions have opposed the plan, while Israel maintains that any pullout remains conditional on Hezbollah's disarmament. A leaked security annex would also preserve Israeli operational freedom in southern Lebanon without a fixed withdrawal schedule.

Read more: South Lebanon framework: What we know so far

Lebanese media, meanwhile, reported continued Israeli military activity across southern Lebanon on Sunday, with artillery shelling striking Deir Seryan in Marjayoun district as drones flew at low altitude over Beirut and its southern suburbs.

A day earlier, an Israeli drone hit a house in Al-Mansouri in Tyre district, injuring one civilian. An Apache helicopter fired five missiles toward Majdal Zoun in the same district, while Israeli forces demolished structures in Tallouseh in Marjayoun district.

Lebanon's Health Ministry put the cumulative toll from the war between March 2 and July 4 at 4,303 dead and 12,202 wounded, including women and children.

Read more: How Lebanon's fragmented power blocks a peace with Israel