Lebanese Army chief, General Joseph Aoun, on Wednesday hailed the dauntless efforts exerted by the military to combat terrorists and the Israeli enemy, highlighting determination to unveil the fate of the servicemen kidnapped in 2014.
“The Resistance and Liberation Day comes upon us this year, while the Lebanese are looking toward the border where you are valiantly defending your land and people in the confrontation with the Israeli enemy and terrorism even as you are keen to keep the trust of your people who managed to vanquish this enemy after teaching it unforgettable lessons in heroism, sacrifice and martyrdom,” General Aoun said in his Order of the Day, upon the Resistance and Liberation day.
“On this patriotic occasion, we would like to extend our warm greetings to the souls of the martyrs who drew with their pious blood bright pages in the history of this Nation and turned themselves into a fire that lights the torch of freedom and national dignity,” he added.
Addressing the troops, he said, “You were truly up to the challenges that our Nation has encountered since neither the Israeli enemy succeeded in weakening your determination despite its daily threats, nor did the aggressions launched by terrorist organizations and their cells inside the country manage to undermine the willpower that you possess to confront them and cripple their capability by resorting to preemptive qualitative operations that target their masterminds.”
“I am all the same confident that you will face up to any other new threat with the same willpower drawing the most dignified title for your imminent missions from the duty to defend the country, safeguard civil peace, preserve national unity and follow up the upcoming national events,” he continued.
“Therefore, I call upon you to be truly ready to confront the hidden schemes of the Israeli enemy and its plans to target our land, people and natural resources while showing continuous determination to abide by resolution 1701 in all its clauses in close coordination with the International Forces,” he added.
“In parallel and amidst the expansion of your deployment along the eastern border, I call upon you to show further diligence and preparedness to continue the war against terrorism while striving to utterly eradicate this danger from our homeland and we are beyond any doubt determined and capable of achieving this objective,” he underlined.
“It is in fact unfortunate to celebrate this Day while the wound of your abducted comrades in arms still bleeds deep in the body of the Military Institution and the Nation. However, I give my word to them, to their families and to the Lebanese people that the Lebanese Army shall invest all its capabilities in order to uncover their fate and to bring them back to their families and Institution,” he vowed.
“On the 17th Anniversary of the Resistance and Liberation Day, the Lebanese consider you as the guardians of this historic achievement that was baptized with the blood of the martyrs and wounded. Your people support you and the weapon of righteousness is at your side and thus I urge you to remain the as the fences of the Nation’s border, a guarantee to peace and stability and guardians of an inveterate legacy just as you have always been,” he concluded.
Source: NNA
