BEIRUT: The Lebanese government pledged swift legal action after Hezbollah brazenly defied an official ban, projecting images of its late leaders onto Beirut’s landmark Raouche Rock, a public display that has reignited fierce debate over state authority and deepened political tensions across the country.
The expanded consultative ministerial council, led by Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam at the Grand Serail, condemned Thursday’s event as “a clear breach of the permit” granted for the gathering, and pledged to take necessary measures to protect the prestige of the state and its decisions.
Ministers stressed the government’s commitment to Lebanon’s stability and social cohesion, vowing to counter divisive rhetoric and halt hate campaigns that threaten national integrity.
“The policy the government committed to in its ministerial statement calls for extending the sovereignty of the Lebanese state with its own forces across all its territories, and … enforcing the laws on all citizens without exception,” it said, adding that this places “great responsibility” on security services to deliver on this mandate.
“The Lebanese are equal before the law, and the state does not discriminate between one citizen and another, or between one group of citizens and another.”
