Prime Minister Najib Mikati stressed today that ‘independence was effectively achieved when the Lebanese were victorious through their constitution and national charter,’ and therefore called for ‘adhering to the constitution that regulates our political life and clinging to the charter of coexistence that protects our national existence’ as the only way to renew Lebanon’s independence.
Mikati also reiterated ‘the call to expedite the election of a new President of the Republic who will restore order to the cycle of life of the exhausted body of the state,” and ‘the call to rally around the army, to preserve its presence and institution, as well as the other security forces, which we salute for the role they play in safeguarding the security of the nation and citizens.’
He considered that the 80th independence commemoration comes at a time when our homeland is in the midst of raging storms, internal and external, represented by its political and economic crises, the burden of displacement weighing on the h
earts of its cities and villages, and the continuing Israeli aggression against the southern border villages and towns and against Gaza, which resides in every living and honorable human conscience.
‘Yet, the Lebanese people, government and people, despite all the circumstances, are determined to commemorate their independence, because they believe in the meanings of freedom, sovereignty, and national unity that it carries for them, and in the hope it inspires in their souls for a better tomorrow, God willing,’ Mikati went on.
He emphasized that independence is not a memory, but rather a reality that is lived every day, expressing his deep appreciation and reverence to the Lebanese army’s leadership, officers and individuals, confirming that ‘this institution is the fence of the nation and the protector of independence, and through it our hearts grow and our souls are reassured about the present and the future.’
The Prime Minister’s words came in his delivered speech during his patronage this afternoon of
the Independence Day ceremony and the announcement of the launch of the Independence Museum at the Independence Castle in Rashaya Al-Wadi.
The ceremony was attended by Cabinet Ministers Muhammad Wissam Mortada, Abbas Al-Halabi, George Boushkian, Nasser Yassin, and MPs Wael Bou Faour and Ghassan Skaf, as well as Army Commander General Joseph Aoun, the Prime Minister’s wife, Mrs. May Mikati, Mrs. Mona Elias Al-Hrawi, and Vice President of the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation, former Minister Laila Solh Hamadeh, who was responsible for the restoration of the Rashaya Citadel and the establishment of the Independence Museum. Several political, social, judicial, spiritual, and military figures and activists were also present at the event.
Source: National News Agency – Lebanon