BEIRUT - In an interview with the daily Al Akhbar issued on Saturday, Michel Aoun, the leader of Change and Reform bloc, declared that his visit to South Lebanon, which is planned on Sunday, is not an attempt to gain extra votes in the coming parliamentary elections. This visit is “in honor of all the martyrs from Qana to Rmeich,” he said. He added: “We do not intend to transform the humanitarian aspect of the visit into political.”.

“I am going to the lands that witnessed Lebanon’s victory as population, resistance, and army over Israel.”

Aoun said he plans to “meet all Southerners who endured hard times. I will tell them that I came to solidify our national unity and partnership in war and in peace, in pain and in hope, under siege or in victory.”