Fight your battles elsewhere, Lebanese leader tells Tehran

Lebanon’s President ­has told an Iranian delegation that the war-scarred country is ‘tired’ of external conflicts playing out on its territory.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun with US deputy special envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus. Picture: Lebanese Presidency / AFP

Lebanon’s President ­Joseph Aoun has told a visiting Iranian delegation that the war-scarred country is “tired” of external conflicts playing out on its territory.

The high-level delegation was in Beirut for the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, the slain leader of Tehran-backed Hezbollah, which fought a war with Israel last year that ended in a November truce.

“Lebanon has grown tired of the wars of others on its land,” Mr Aoun told the Iranian officials, ­according to a statement shared by the newly appointed President, a former army chief seen as close to the West. “Countries should not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.”

Long the dominant force in Lebanon, Hezbollah suffered staggering losses in the war with Israel, compounded by a massive blow with the December fall of ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria – long a lifeline for the militant group for weapons from Iran.

Hezbollah’s weakening ­allowed Lebanon’s divided parliament to elect Mr Aoun, seen as Washington’s preferred candidate, after more than two years of a presidential vacuum, followed by the approval of a new Prime Minister and government.

Mr Aoun said Lebanon wanted “the best relations with Tehran, for the benefit of both countries and peoples”.

During their meeting, Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, extended an invitation from President Masoud Pezeshkian for Mr Aoun to visit Iran, the Lebanese statement said.

Mr Ghalibaf was accompanied by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Revolutionary Guards deputy commander Ali Fadavi.

The delegation landed in Beirut although regular flights between the two countries had been suspended.

The ban, which prompted protests from Hezbollah supporters, came after the US warned that ­Israel might target Lebanon’s only international airport in Beirut to thwart alleged weapons shipments from Iran, a Lebanese security source said.

In a televised address to tens of thousands attending Nasrallah’s funeral in a Beirut stadium, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said he would not allow “tyrant America to control” Lebanon.

The US helped broker the Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire, which ended more than a year of ­hostilities, including two months of all-out war that killed longtime leader Nasrallah in ­September.

The fighting, launched by Hezbollah in support of Palestinian ally Hamas in the early days of the Gaza war, killed thousands in Lebanon and left large swathes of the country’s south in ruins.

Israel has on several occasions accused Hezbollah of using the airport in Beirut to bring in weapons from Iran. The group, as well as Lebanese leaders, have denied the allegations.

In a meeting with Mr Ghalibaf, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that “the security of the airport and passengers is the priority”, stressing that ensuring it was the responsibility of the Lebanese state, according to a statement from his office.

AFP