Lebanon "calmly" takes steps to ensure state's exclusive arms control president

Beirut: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Monday that Lebanon has been taking steps calmly and responsibly to ensure the exclusive state control o...

Beirut: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Monday that Lebanon has been taking steps "calmly and responsibly" to ensure the exclusive state control of arms.

"The process of ensuring the state's exclusive control of arms is being conducted with a high sense of national responsibility to safeguard civil peace," Aoun told a visiting delegation from the French Senate at the Baabda Palace, according to a report by state-run National News Agency.

"A return to the language of war is prohibited -- a message clearly communicated to all concerned parties -- and this is a unified Lebanese demand," Aoun said.

He said Israel's refusal to withdraw from five hilltops along the Lebanese border makes the state unable "to exercise its authority over its territory fully" and "hampers stability along the border."

Aoun also noted that Lebanon and Syria have maintained communication "to coordinate and avoid any security incidents at the border."