Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun said on Monday that the recent Israeli drone strikes in Lebanon amounted to “a declaration of war” and that Lebanon had the right to defend itself.

“What happened amounted to a declaration of war which allows us to resort to our right to defending our sovereignty,” Aoun’s office quoted him as saying on Twitter.

Aoun met UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis in Beiteddine on Monday to discuss ‘the latest developments’, the president’s office said.

“The attacks on Dahiyeh and the Qusaya region violate UNSC Resolution 1701, and its stipulations that bind Lebanon should also be binding for Israel,” Aoun told Kubis.

“We are people who seek peace, not war, but we do not accept to be threatened by anyone in any manner,” the president underlined. “I have repeatedly said before that Lebanon will not fire a single shot from its border unless it is in self-defense,” Aoun added.

The Lebanese president’s remarks came a day after two Israeli drones crashed in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

A day after, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command said an Israeli drone had bombed its base in the Lebanese eastern border region of Qusaya.