Lebanon’s Aoun instructs army to act against Israeli incursions

Lebanon’s Aoun instructs army to act against Israeli incursions
2025-10-30T11:15:04+00:00

Shafaq News – Beirut (Updated at 18:12)

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Thursday ordered Army Commander Rodolphe Haykal to respond to any future Israeli incursions, following an overnight raid on the southern border town of Blida that killed a civilian.

Haykal briefed Aoun on the assault, during which Israeli forces stormed the village and fatally shot municipal worker Ibrahim Salameh as he slept inside the town hall, according to a statement from the presidency.

Aoun condemned the killing as part of Israel’s “ongoing aggression,” noting it came just hours after a meeting of the committee tasked with overseeing the ceasefire. He urged the body to move beyond documenting violations and enforce accountability under the terms of the November 2024 truce.

On X, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam denounced the raid as “a blatant assault on state institutions and national sovereignty,” while the Lebanese Army labeled it a “criminal act,” accusing Israel of breaching UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

UNIFIL described the incident as “a blatant violation of the Security Council Resolution 1701 and Lebanon’s sovereignty,” urging all parties to maintain the ceasefire and stressing that extending state authority through national institutions remains a core objective of the mandate.

Local media reported that the Israeli unit, backed by military vehicles and off-road equipment, pushed more than a kilometer into Lebanese territory around 1:30 a.m., with residents hearing cries for help from inside the town hall during the three-hour operation.

Israel later claimed it had targeted “Hezbollah infrastructure” without acknowledging Salameh’s killing, a statement the Lebanese Army dismissed as fabricated while confirming ongoing coordination with UNIFIL through the joint mechanism committee.

Despite the November 27 ceasefire, Israeli forces—still positioned at five locations inside Lebanese territory—continue to bombard southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, and carry out incursions into border towns near the “Blue Line,” a 120-kilometer boundary established by the United Nations in 2000 following Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon.

Lebanese government data show that since the ceasefire, Israeli strikes have killed about 300 people and wounded more than 650. Earlier this week, an Israeli airstrike on a sawmill near the coastal city of Tyre killed two brothers.

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