FULL TEXT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun addresses nation, rejects Iranian & Hezbollah intervention, vows to pursue negotiations with Israel

The following is the full text of the nationally televised address delivered on Friday by Joseph Aoun, the president of Lebanon.

It follows the announcement by the Trump administration of a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon and the acceleration of direct talks between both countries under U.S. auspices to pursue a lasting peace treaty.

This text was first published by L’Orient Today, a French and English news service in Lebanon.

PRESIDENT AOUN THANKS THE UNITED STATES AND SAUDI ARABIA

My dear compatriots, my brothers and sisters –

I address you today from the height of responsibility and the depth of the pain we all share.

These are not passing words, but sincere ones, carrying the burden of the homeland and the suffering of its people.

The ceasefire achieved is the result of everyone’s efforts.

It is the fruit of your sacrifices, which awakened the conscience of the world.

It is the fruit of those who stood firm in their homes and villages, on the front lines, affirming to the world that we are here to stay, whatever happens.

It is the fruit of those who welcomed and supported their fellow citizens.

It is also the result of the immense efforts deployed by Lebanese officials, alongside Lebanon’s brothers and friends around the world – efforts that spanned day and night, through a web of initiatives and contacts in every direction and at every level.

We never wavered, nor did we doubt for a single moment our right and our duty.

We endured much: accusations, insults, slander, and lies.

But we did not retreat until it became clear that we were right, and the whole world recognized that what we achieved was the most just and appropriate course.

At this point, I express my gratitude to all those who contributed to stopping the hostilities: from the American president, our friend Donald Trump, to all our Arab brothers, foremost among them the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

We count on their friendship to continue what we began yesterday and achieve what we aspire to.

PRESIDENT AOUN: OUR MISSION IS TO SAVE AN INDEPENDENT AND SOVEREIGN STATE OF LEBANON

Today, we stand before a new stage: moving from the effort to stop the fighting to the effort to establish lasting agreements, guaranteeing the rights of our people, the unity of our land, and the sovereignty of our nation.

In this stage, as in the previous one, we are certain we will save Lebanon.

We also know that we will be the target of attacks for one simple reason: we have restored to Lebanon its independence and its decision-making for the first time in nearly half a century.

We now negotiate in our own name; we decide in our own name.

We are no longer a card in anyone’s pocket, nor a battlefield for others’ wars. And we never will be again.

We have once again become a state holding its decision alone, raising it high, and embodying it in deeds and words – for the life of its people and the good of its children, and for nothing else.

I say this to you with candor and confidence: these negotiations are neither a weakness nor a retreat nor a concession.

They are a decision born of the strength of our faith in our rights, of our concern for our people, and of our responsibility to protect our homeland by all means.

Above all, they are the expression of our refusal to die for anyone other than Lebanon.

Negotiations do not, and never will, mean abandoning a right, renouncing a principle, or violating the sovereignty of this country.

PRESIDENT AOUN: WE REFUSE TO COMMIT SUICIDE

Thousands of Lebanese have left us. They are our children, and we will never forget them.

I will not allow a single more Lebanese to die, nor let the hemorrhage of my people continue, for the interests of powers or the calculations of near or distant axes.

Between suicide and prosperity, my people and I choose prosperity, and we refuse suicide.

Between misleading slogans that destroy and rational steps that build, my people and I choose reason.

Between absurd and gratuitous death in the name of foreign causes, and life for our homeland and our people, in dignity, freedom, and well-being – my people and I choose life.

PRESIDENT AOUN: I WILL TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR PROTECTING LEBANON

I have said it and I repeat it: I am ready to assume full responsibility for these choices.

I am ready to go anywhere necessary to liberate my land, protect my people, and save my country.

My mission is unique, clear, and defined: to save this country and its people.

I will accomplish it with absolute national, human, and spiritual conviction.

And I know you are with me – in secret and in public, in your hearts and in your minds.

I know the extent of the sacrifices you have made.

I know what it means to lose a loved one, a home, or the feeling of safety.

I tell you with sincerity and resolve: this pain will not be our eternal destiny.

I affirm to you in the language of oath and promise: there will never be any agreement that infringes on our national rights, diminishes the dignity of our resisting people, or abandons a single piece of the land of our nation.

Our objective is clear and declared: to stop Israeli aggression against our land and our people, to obtain Israeli withdrawal, to extend state authority over all its land by its own forces, to ensure the return of prisoners, and to enable our families to return to their homes and villages in safety, freedom, and dignity.

PRESIDENT AOUN: WE REJECT ALL FOREIGN (IRAN & HEZBOLLAH) ATTEMPTS TO USE LEBANON TO ‘BUILD THEIR OWN GLORY’

My beloved –

The strength of this country lies first in the consciousness of its people.

In their unity, founded on rights, justice, and the choice of communal life, according to the principles of our national pact.

One state, to which goes all our loyalty and definitive belonging.

One constitution to which we refer.

One law to which we all submit.

One armed force that protects us all.

Do not let the voices of doubt and treason sow division among you.

Do not let yourselves be led by those who exploit your emotions to build their own glory on the back of your stability.

Call on your reason, overcome the instincts of manipulators, and be convinced that what we do today and tomorrow is for your security, your protection, your free, dignified, and safe life – and to offer your children a more secure and stable future.

Not to doom them to become death statistics every few years, victims of foreign interests.

Every martyr fallen for the homeland has left our hearts before leaving your homes.

Every house destroyed has taken with it a part of our conscience and our memory.

PRESIDENT AOUN: WE WILL REBUILD LEBANON TOGETHER

That is why we will rebuild it together, better than it was.

All Lebanese are in the same boat. Either we steer it wisely to the shore of safety, or we sink it, and we all go down with it.

No one has the right to commit this crime – neither in the name of a slogan, nor by suicidal instinct, nor by loyalty to anything other than Lebanon and its people.

I implore you today, in the name of your sacrifices and your pains [sic], in fidelity to those who have left us, and out of loyalty to the resistance of our people: open your hearts and minds.

Do not veil your vision.

Do not close your discernment with the slogans of accusation and betrayal.

Nations are not built by instinct, but by conscience, unity, and trust.

To the displaced, I say: you will return to your homes; they will rise again with you, and we are with you, by your side – we will not abandon you.

To the resistants [sic] who stayed in their homes under threat, I say: your sacrifices will not be in vain, and your pride will remain our emblem.

To the adventurers who play with Lebanon’s fate and the lives of the Lebanese, I say: enough!

Only the state project in Lebanon is the strongest, the most enduring, and the safest for all.

And to the world, I say: Lebanon will not be broken, its people will not die, its rights will prevail.

Our future we will build with our will and the will of all Lebanese.

Long live my people.

Long live Lebanon.

This article was originally published on All Arab News