Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Youssef Raji, renewed his rejection of the threats directed at the Republic of Cyprus that were launched from Lebanese territory, stressing that these practices radically contradict the Lebanon that is being built. Raji stressed that Lebanon will not accept, under any circumstances and from any party, that its territory be used as a springboard, base, or platform to threaten the security of the Republic of Cyprus or the security of any friendly country. He continued, "No individual, organization, or armed entity has the right to monopolize the state's decisions, determine Lebanon's foreign relations, or confiscate the right of the Lebanese to decide matters of war and peace." Stressing that these decisions are within the jurisdiction of the Lebanese constitutional institutions alone, and no one has the right to extract them or replace the state in exercising them. Raji said: Lebanon made an irreversible strategic choice, and decided to turn the page on the contracts in which it turned into an arena for settling the conflicts of others, or an advanced line of defense for projects that have nothing to do with the Lebanese national interest, or a card used to improve the conditions for negotiation in regional or international files that Lebanon has nothing to do with. He considered that it was time for Lebanon to stop paying the costs of wars it did not choose, and conflicts in which it was not a party. He asserted that decisions related to Lebanese national security and Lebanese foreign policy will be taken in Beirut... and in Beirut alone, and will not be taken in any other capital, and will not remain hostage to external calculations, regional agendas, or bargaining taking place at the expense of Lebanon and the interests of its people. Raji considered that the essence of state sovereignty is that it alone monopolizes the decision on war and peace, that it exercises full authority over its entire territory, and that it does not allow Lebanon to be transformed into an arena for proxy wars, or into a tool in the conflicts of others.