Lebanese foreign minister urges Gulf states to help restore country's sovereignty

Lebanon's Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji has called for a complete Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territories, an end to ongoing attacks and the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, while urging Gulf states to support efforts to restore Lebanon's sovereignty. Speaking at the 22nd Manama Dialogue, organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Rajji said restoring state authority was essential to Lebanon's stability and its relations with Arab countries, Lebanon's National News Agency reported. He said Lebanon, under President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, had embarked on a path to reassert state control, pointing to government decisions aimed at placing all weapons under state authority and banning Hezbollah's military and security activities. "Lebanon will no longer allow its territory to be used against the security of its Arab brothers or as a bargaining chip in negotiations conducted beyond its borders," Rajji said during a session on the Eastern Mediterranean. The minister also reaffirmed Lebanon's solidarity with Bahrain and other Gulf states in "confronting Iranian attacks and those carried out by armed groups linked to Tehran", rejecting any violation of their sovereignty, security and territorial integrity. He warned against allowing countries to "pursue regional ambitions through armed groups operating outside state authority", saying Lebanon had "experienced the devastating consequences of such organisations being used as instruments of foreign influence". The Lebanese people, he said, had paid a heavy price for "wars they had never chosen to fight". Rajji also raised concerns over maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea, arguing that Gulf security could no longer be separated from developments in the Red Sea, which was closely linked to the security of the Eastern Mediterranean. He called for a comprehensive Arab strategic partnership to address regional challenges, built around strong and sovereign states whose legitimate institutions retain exclusive authority over decisions of war and peace.