Lebanese President Joseph Aoun visited the southern city of Nabatieh on Saturday, near Ali al-Taher Hill, where Israel claimed earlier in the day that it had destroyed an extensive underground tunnel network belonging to Hezbollah, the National News Agency reported.
اضافة اعلان
The visit came a day after a U.S. official announced that the next round of U.S.-brokered negotiations between Israel and Lebanon had been postponed until October. The talks had been scheduled to take place next week in Rome.
According to the National News Agency, Aoun made the previously unannounced visit to Nabatieh accompanied by Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal and senior security officials.
During the visit, the president expressed solidarity with local residents who welcomed him, according to footage broadcast by local media.
Speaking outside the Nabatieh Governmental Hospital, Aoun said: “We are here to thank the hospital staff for their resilience, and we are proud of them. Despite the difficult circumstances, they have risked and continue to risk their lives to provide the minimum level of medical services” in an area from which most residents have been displaced.
Fighting had eased following a memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States in June, followed later by a framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel.
However, Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon have intensified in recent days, particularly around Nabatieh. On Thursday, the Israeli military claimed it had detonated an underground Hezbollah tunnel network in the strategic Ali al-Taher highlands, a few kilometers from Nabatieh.
Following the Israeli military’s announcement, a magnitude 4.1 earthquake was recorded in southern Lebanon, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 29 people over less than a week, including 12 members of the same family.
The Lebanese Army warned on Wednesday that the Israeli “escalation” in southern Lebanon threatens the implementation of the framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel.
Source: Al Mamlaka TV / AFP
