President Michel Aoun has lauded the Lebanese army in a speech during a ceremony marking 74 years since the founding of the military institution.
“Our national army has proven over the years and crises that it is above interests and polarization and that it is the nation’s guarantee,” said Aoun on Thursday at the ceremony held at the Shukri Ghanem barracks in Fayadiyeh outside Beirut.
He hailed the military on its gains and achievements in the past two years, mainly after it “liberated” the country’s eastern borders from terrorists in its “Fajr al-Joroud” operation.
The president declared security a “red line,” saying “there will be no leniency with any attempt to tamper with it.”
Aoun reiterated his support for the 1989 Taef Agreement that ended Lebanon’s 1975-1990 Civil War.
“The Taef Accord which I committed to implement in my swearing-in speech and to which the government was also committed in its policy statement, constitutes an umbrella for all of us to protect the National Charter,” he said.
In his speech, Aoun touched on the country’s economic crisis, saying “some of its roots were caused by the region’s wars and the global economic situation, and other reasons were the result of years of accumulated blunders.”
However, he reassured the people that Lebanon would be able to overcome the crisis.
Thursday’s ceremony was attended by Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun, Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab, and other officials.
