Lebanon’s army chief urged “full readiness” at the southern border to face the “threats of the Israeli enemy and its violations,” the army said in a tweet on Tuesday. Army Commander General Joseph Aoun called on soldiers to be ever vigilant for the “good implementation” of the UN resolution 1701 to “preserve stability” at the border with Israel. The Lebanese army is responsible for security on its side of the border under the resolution that ended the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

His remarks came a day after Lebanese president Michel Aoun appeared to defend Hezbollah as necessary to resist Israel, after an Arab League statement accused the group of terrorism and noted it is part of Lebanon’s coalition government. “Israeli targeting still continues and it is the right of the Lebanese to resist it and foil its plans by all available means,” the President’s office quoted him as saying in a Tweet. READ MORE