Lebanon president visits bombed Nabatieh site: 'No new talks with Israel'

Lebanese president Joseph Aoun visited the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on Saturday, near a strategic Hezbollah position that the Israeli army had blown up on Thursday, and announced that there would be no new negotiations with Israel at present. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said that Aoun, who was accompanied by security chiefs, “stressed that the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the return of prisoners and displaced people, and reconstruction remain national constants that Lebanon is committed to upholding”. The visit comes a day after a US diplomatic official announced that the new round of US-brokered diplomatic talks between Israel and Lebanon, originally scheduled for next week in Rome, has been postponed until October. Arriving without prior announcement, Aoun expressed solidarity with the residents who welcomed him, according to footage broadcast by local media.