People gather outside the municipality building in the southern Lebanese border village of Blida in the aftermath of an Israeli army raid on the village. AFP
Despite a ceasefire agreement in November 2024 with the Lebanese group Hezbollah, Israel has continued to carry out near-daily strikes on Lebanon and still occupies five areas in the south.
Aoun called for negotiations with Israel in mid-October, following a ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump in Israel's war on Gaza.
"Lebanon is ready for negotiations to end the Israeli occupation, but any negotiation... requires mutual willingness, which is not the case," Aoun said on Friday.
"Israel is responding to this option by carrying out more attacks against Lebanon... and intensifying tensions," he added during a meeting with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported that an Israeli drone targeted a man on a motorbike in the village of Kunin on Friday. The health ministry confirmed one death and one injury.
The strike came a day after the Israeli military killed a municipal worker in a raid on the Lebanese border village of Blida.
Aoun ordered the Lebanese Army on Thursday to confront such incursions.
Israel and Hezbollah first began exchanging cross-border fire after the outbreak of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, initiating a more than year-long conflict that culminated in an Israeli invasion and two months of open war on Lebanon. A ceasefire was agreed in late 2024.
Despite the ceasefire, Israel has continued air strikes on Lebanon and has stepped up attacks in recent days.
Israeli attacks have killed at least 25 people in Lebanon in October, including one Syrian, according to an AFP toll based on figures from the Lebanese health ministry.
On Tuesday, the spokesman for the UN human rights commission, Jeremy Laurence, said Israeli forces had killed 111 civilians in Lebanon since the ceasefire took effect.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi urged his visiting German counterpart on Friday to "help put pressure on Israel to stop its attacks."
"Only a diplomatic solution, not a military one, can ensure stability and guarantee calm in the south," Raggi was quoted by NNA as saying.
He also added that "the Lebanese government is continuing to gradually implement its decision to place all weapons under its control."
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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