Aoun calls for exclusive state authority over Lebanon

 Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Saturday that the Lebanese Army must be the only armed force in the country and that there should be no legal weapons beyond the state's jurisdiction.

"There is no legitimacy for any weapon outside the legitimacy of the state, and there is no protection for this country except through its national army," Aoun said in a statement marking Lebanese Army Day. "The army alone possesses the decision, the force, and the legitimacy to be the state's exclusive military arm."

He further called for army units to be fully deployed along the southern border and for the state to exert exclusive jurisdiction over its territory to allow citizens to safely return to their cities and villages.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Aoun-calls-for-exclusive-state-authority-over-Lebanon/66829944