Lebanese president: Israeli drone strikes 'a declaration of war' - Reuters , Daniel Siryoti , Israel Hayom Staff

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by Reuters , Daniel Siryoti , Israel Hayom Staff 

Lebanese President Michel Aoun meets with UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Ján Kubiš on "Israeli assault" on Beirut follow Sunday's drone crash.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun | Photo: Hussein Malla/Pool via Reuters/File Photo

Lebanese President Michel Aoun discussed on Monday the "Israeli assault on the southern suburbs of Beirut" with the country's United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Ján Kubiš, Aoun's office said.

Aoun said his country had a right to defend itself after Israeli drone strikes that were like a "declaration of war."

"What happened was similar to a declaration of war which allows us to resort to our right to defending our sovereignty," Aoun's office quoted him as saying on Twitter.

"We are a people seeking peace, not war, and we don't accept anyone threatening us in any war," added Aoun, a political ally of Hezbollah.

Lebanese media reported Sunday that two drones, which the Lebanese army and the Iran-backed Hezbollah said were Israeli, crashed into a Hezbollah building in a southern suburb of Beirut, prompting the leader of the Iran-backed movement to warn the Israeli army that his group was preparing an "appropriate response."

On Sunday, Hezbollah said it would retaliate to an overnight "provocation" in Beirut it attributed to Israel, sources close to the Shiite terrorist group told the Lebanese media hours after the incident. The threat was later walked back by Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, Arab media outlets reported Monday that the Israeli Air Force had bombed a military post belonging to a Palestinian terrorist group based in Lebanon.

According to the reports, the strike targeted a base in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, near the country’s border with Syria, which is manned by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, a terrorist group affiliated with Hezbollah.

An Israeli military official said the IDF "does not comment on foreign media reports," but a defense official told Israel Hayom Monday that if the IAF had, in fact, carried out the strike, it would have been to prevent retaliation by Hezbollah over Sunday's operation.


Reuters , Daniel Siryoti , Israel Hayom Staff

Source: https://www.israelhayom.com/2019/08/26/lebanese-president-meets-with-un-official-over-israeli-assault/

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