Berri denounces Israeli aggression on Beirut's Southern Suburb

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
1 Apr 2025 16:38
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Senior Lebanese officials condemn the latest Israeli airstrike on Beirut's Southern Suburb as a breach of the ceasefire agreement and UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

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A heavily damaged rooftop of a building is pictured at the site of an Israeli strike on a building in Beirut's Southern Suburb on April 1, 2025 (AFP)

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri condemned the "treacherous" Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s Southern Suburb on Tuesday dawn—carried out for the second time in just a few days and during the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

In a statement, Berri emphasized that the latest Israeli assault was not merely another violation among the 2,000 breaches of the ceasefire and UN Security Council Resolution 1701, but "a clear aggression against Lebanon and the borders of its capital, Beirut, in its southern suburb."

He pointed out that the aggression was, above all, "an Israeli attempt, with fire, blood, and destruction, to assassinate the UN resolution and undermine its implementation mechanism contained in the agreement, to which Lebanon has fully committed."

The Lebanese Parliament Speaker added that the strike "is a direct targeting of the efforts of the Lebanese military, security, and judicial forces, which have made great strides in uncovering the circumstances of the recent suspicious incidents in the south, which bear Israeli fingerprints in their timing, objectives, and methods."

"We will not condemn what is condemnable by all standards," Berri asserted, underscoring that "the dawn crime in the southern suburbs of Beirut and all the crimes committed by the Israeli aggression are an explicit and urgent call to the countries sponsoring the ceasefire agreement to fulfill their obligations and compel the Israeli entity to stop its attacks on Lebanon and its violation of its sovereignty and to withdraw from its occupied territories."

Berri's remarks came following the Israeli airstrike, which targeted the upper floors of a residential building in Beirut’s Southern Suburb. The attack resulted in the martyrdom of four people, including a woman, and injured six others, one of whom is in critical condition, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.

'Serious warning of the premeditated intentions against Lebanon'

On his part, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun also denounced the Israeli aggression, warning that it "constitutes a serious warning of the premeditated intentions against Lebanon."

"Israel's persistence in its aggression requires us to exert more effort to address Lebanon's friends in the world, and to rally them in support of our right to full sovereignty over our land, and to prevent any violation from the outside or inside infiltrators, who provide an additional pretext for aggression," Aoun affirmed.

Similarly, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the Israeli attack, describing it as a "flagrant violation of UN Resolution 1701, which affirms Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity," and "a clear breach of the arrangements for the cessation of hostilities reached last November."

The aggression on Beirut’s Southern Suburb comes just two days after the Israeli occupation military carried out another strike, completely destroying a residential building in the Jamous area of the same district.

A ceasefire agreement on November 27 ended an Israeli war on Lebanon, but "Israel" has since continued to carry out strikes on Lebanese territory and maintained a military presence in five locations in southern Lebanon, near the border with occupied Palestine.