Lebanon Presidential Office: Rhetoric Attributed to Aoun about Hizbullah 'Inaccurate'

Media office of President Michel Aoun said on Friday that remarks published in the American al-Monitor website, quoting the President during his stay in New York, included “inaccurate positions and some came out of context,” the National News Agency reported.

“The Lebanese Presidency media office confirms that the positions made by the President are no different from what he said in the speech he delivered before the UN General Assembly and during his meetings with Arab and foreign officials and the Secretary-General of the United Nations,” said the statement.

It added that Aoun's speech at the General Assembly was printed and “distributed by the Media Office of the Presidency,” to the participants at the summit.

Al-Monitor published an interview it conducted with Aoun during his stay in NY. It quoted him as saying that he “sees a role for Hizbullah in Lebanon as long as Israel continues to threaten the country.”

It also quoted him as saying that requests to “disband Hizbullah” cant be made in light of continued Israeli threats and provocations.

The President was also quoted as saying that “Hizbullah has become one of the major components of the regional crisis, and if a solution for Hizbullah is required, it should be an integrated part of a general solution for the crises in the Middle East, mainly in Syria.”