The President of the Republic, General Joseph Aoun, considered that on this day in the year 2000, “the South wrote an unprecedented epic when the Israeli occupation withdrew as a result of the steadfastness and sacrifices of the people of this land, so the twenty-fifth of May was a day of unified national dignity.” He added: “However, the anniversary of liberation comes this year and Lebanon is suffering under the burden of a painful reality. The Israeli attacks have not stopped, and dear southern villages are still groaning under the weight of a renewed occupation in flagrant violation of all international resolutions, most notably Resolution 1701. Lebanon will not accept this reality and will not compromise with it, and the path to complete Israeli withdrawal will remain a firm and uncompromising national demand that the Lebanese state is working to achieve through the option of negotiation.” Which will not be a concession or surrender, but rather an affirmation of the exclusive right of Lebanon to protect its land and sovereignty and extend its authority through its army and legitimate security forces, and thanks to the solidarity of its people and their rally around its state, which has taken fateful decisions in this direction that express a very important national will to restore full sovereignty. It goes without saying that the army will remain the sole guarantor of national security and territorial integrity. President Aoun said: “Those who liberated the South with their blood, soldiers and resistance fighters, as well as all Lebanese, deserve a strong state cohesive with the legitimacy of its civil and military institutions, fair with laws without discrimination, and united by the will and solidarity of its people.” The most important fulfillment of the memory of liberation is to build a state that will be a bulwark for all Lebanese, and in which sovereignty will be a trust held by every citizen, because Lebanon belongs to all of us, and liberating the south is a duty that the state bears by supporting its people because, in the end, it is an option for which there is no alternative.”