On Saturday, groups from the "civil movement" staged a protest outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants in Beirut, raising slogans against Iranian policies in Lebanon and demanding the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador from Beirut. They protested "the violation of Lebanon’s land and maritime borders," accusing the Lebanese government of negligence.
In a statement issued by the groups, they said, "We, the sovereign groups emerging from the October 17 Revolution, who believe in sovereignty, freedom, and independence, stand here today to raise our voices from in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the institution of Lebanese diplomacy that is oblivious and negligent in applying laws and international agreements. It accepts without objection the Iranian ambassador's refusal to respond to a summon following offensive statements against national sovereignty made by its leaders, disregarding Lebanon's dignity, prestige, and sovereignty. This is a clear expression of the policy of compromising our rights and the submission practiced by the authorities, which has distorted Lebanon's image, destroyed its port and half of its capital, and exploited its economy and the deposits of its people to serve the Iranian axis, tarnishing its reputation, ruining its friendships, and isolating it from its Arab neighbors and the regional and global community."
The Iranian ambassador had previously rejected his summon last month from the caretaker Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe regarding insults directed at Maronite Patriarch Bechara Raï on the Iranian-affiliated channel "Al-Alam." The protesters also addressed the issue of maritime borders and the failure to sign the decree calling for an expansion of the area Lebanon demands in negotiations with Israel.
The statement noted, "The policy of compromising rights and bargaining over them continues from the regime, reaching our maritime resources and oil and gas wealth, relying, as usual, on delaying tactics and the shifting of responsibilities and authorities in amending Decree 6433, which defined our actual maritime borders in the south by line 29 to secure field number 9 valued at $40 billion. We are now on the brink of losing this right, with the enemy about to commence drilling in the depths of our waters, indifferent to the nation's interest."
The groups outlined several demands in their statement, asserting, "It is time to liberate Lebanon and its legitimacy and restore its decision, which has been usurped in all institutions. Accordingly, we demand the signing of the amendment to Decree 6433, which guarantees our southern maritime borders, insist through negotiations on fully retrieving our rights from the shared gas fields, confront the blatant aggression on our northern maritime borders, cut diplomatic relations with Iran, expel its ambassador, apply the constitution and the National Accord Document, adhere to implementing the decisions of international and Arab legitimacy, especially resolutions 1559, 1680, 1701, and the ceasefire agreement, adopt neutrality, and hold an international conference for Lebanon."
