Lebanon’s army on Sunday warned the Lebanese public against actions that would disturb public order in the crisis-hit country after Israel’s killing of Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.
The army in a statement said it “calls on citizens to preserve national unity and not to be drawn into actions that may affect civil peace at this dangerous and delicate stage,” following the massive Friday strike that killed Nasrallah and other top commanders, as Israeli attacks continue.
“The Israeli enemy is working to implement its destructive plans and sow division among Lebanese,” the army statement added.
Tiny Lebanon has long been divided along sectarian lines and witnessed a devastating 1975-1990 civil war.
Hezbollah, the Shiite group that wields great power in Lebanon and whose military might is widely believed to dwarf Lebanon’s armed forces, has drawn criticism from some Lebanese politicians over its decision to open a “support front” against Israel last October.
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Hezbollah has been shooting rockets and drones into Israel almost daily since October 8, 2023, in the immediate wake of its ally Hamas’s cross-border terror onslaught in southern Israel, which started the ongoing war in Gaza.
This handout picture provided by the Lebanese Prime Minister’s press office shows Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati delivering a statement to the press in Beirut on September 29, 2024 (Lebanese Prime Minister’s Press Office / AFP)
After a year of daily tit-for-tat strikes, Israel has ramped up its fighting against Hezbollah in recent weeks, launching waves of airstrikes targeting top commanders, infrastructure, and weapons storage sites, after attacks on operatives’ personal communications devices that were also widely blamed on Israel.
A Lebanese army official told AFP on Sunday that troops had been deployed since Saturday in Beirut, where thousands have sought refuge from intense Israeli raids on Lebanon’s south and east and on Hezbollah’s south Beirut bastion.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged Lebanese “to come together” to preserve civil order.
“Our national responsibility at this historic and exceptional moment requires setting aside political differences,” he said on Saturday, after cutting short a New York trip.
Intense Israeli attacks may have forced up to a million people to flee parts of Lebanon, the president said, which would amount to roughly a sixth of Lebanon’s population.
“It is the largest displacement movement that may have happened… in Lebanon,” he said.
Earlier this week, UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said “well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon” and more than 50,000 had fled to neighboring Syria.
A displaced family fleeing violence in southern Lebanon take shelter at the entrance of a branch of Iran’s Saderat Bank in Sidon, on September 27, 2024. (Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)
The parties traditionally opposed to the powerful Iran-backed group have refrained from making fiery statements following Nasrallah’s killing.
The Lebanese Forces, a Christian party widely viewed as one of Hezbollah’s fiercest critics, even ordered supporters to go “radio silent” on social media in a message circulated on their groups, a source close to the party told AFP.
On Saturday, former prime minister Saad Hariri called on Lebanese to “rise above differences,” adding that Nasrallah’s killing “has plunged Lebanon and the region into a new phase of violence.”
An international court had found that Hezbollah operatives were behind the 2005 killing of his father Rafic Hariri, also a former Lebanese premier.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Information Minister Ziad Makary said during a cabinet session on Sunday that diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire with Israel were underway.
“It is certain that the Lebanese government wants a ceasefire, and everyone knows that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu went to New York based on the premise of a ceasefire, but the decision was made to assassinate Nasrallah,” Makary said.
Netanyahu traveled to New York several days ago for the United Nations General Assembly, as the US, France and other western nations were discussing a potential 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Despite reportedly signaling his endorsement of the plan in private, Netanyahu ultimately rejected the proposal, shortly before approving the strike that killed Nasrallah on Friday.
“Diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire are ongoing,” Makary said, adding that Nakati “is not falling short, but the matter is not that easy.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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