Lebanon’s president says country facing ‘vicious Israeli aggression’

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun says that his country is facing “a vicious and reprehensible Israeli aggression,” after Israel stepped up its offensive against the Hezbollah terror group with the capture of the medieval Beaufort Castle.

Aoun condemns the Israeli offensive in a post on X and pledges to “work to end the suffering of the Lebanese people, and people in the south in particular.”

The UN Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting on Lebanon today, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the castle’s seizure marked a “dramatic shift” in the fighting.

Hezbollah is attacking Israel’s north and Israeli troops in south Lebanon on a daily basis, as the Israeli military continues to strike the organization in Lebanon’s south. The ceasefire announced in mid-April has largely collapsed, though Israel is mostly avoiding strikes in Beirut and Hezbollah has limited its attacks to northern Israel.