The Israeli army announced it had launched a series of attacks against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. The strikes came after Hezbollah warned Prime Minister Salam and other leaders against negotiating with the Jewish state, reiterating that any dialogue on its disarmament must take place within a consensus national security strategy, not based on Israeli demands. In response to the open letter from the political and armed movement, the prime minister defended on Friday that it is now the Lebanese state that decides on "war and peace" in the country. The Salam government, formed at the beginning of this year, approved two months ago an army plan to ensure that only official security forces have weapons, which mainly involves disarming Hezbollah after its war last year with Israel. While the initiative has focused mainly on the border strip with the Jewish state, the prime minister defended during the forum that they have also made "significant progress" in reducing armed activity to the north and against arms trafficking on the border with Syria. "We said our words and we are implementing them, you just have to give us some time," he concluded. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Friday that his country is trying to mobilize all possible international support to stop the Israeli escalation and reclaim the state's power of decision over "war and peace". During his speech at the 'Lebanon 2025 Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Innovation Summit', the leader described the Israeli-led escalation as "extremely dangerous." On Thursday, Israel issued evacuation orders for a series of buildings in five different localities in southern Lebanon and subsequently bombed them, injuring at least one person.
