Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has reiterated a call for negotiations with Israel, saying he wanted to spare his country’s south from destruction on the scale seen in Gaza, AFP reports.

“It is true that Israel might want to do in southern Lebanon what it did in Gaza,” Aoun said in a televised address, after Israel launched airstrikes and a ground offensive against Hezbollah, destroying several southern Lebanese villages.

“Gaza was destroyed, over 70,000 people were killed, and they eventually sat down and negotiated, so why don’t we negotiate… until we can at least save the homes that have not yet been destroyed?” he added.

People gather at the site of an Israeli strike, in Kfar Hatta in southern Lebanon, April 5, 2026. — Reuters
People gather at the site of an Israeli strike, in Kfar Hatta in southern Lebanon, April 5, 2026. — Reuters

Opinion

Trouble at home

Trouble at home

The country’s strength lies in its political and economic stability, not in fleeting moments of diplomatic success.

Editorial

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