NNA – nbsp;Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Friday evening received UN Secretary-General, Antoacute;nio Guterres, at his residence in Beirut, in the presence of In the presence of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the Commander of the International Forces operating in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL), General Aroldo Lazaro, and the Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, Khaled Khiari.

The UN Secretary General Guterres said in a statement, distributed by the United Nations Information Centre in Beirut (UNIC Beirut), before his meeting with Caretaker Premier Mikati: ldquo;I just arrived from Naqoura from a visit to UNIFIL, and I felt extremely proud of the courage and resilience of the soldiers of UNIFIL, and especially the fact that, in an extremely difficult moment, when there was enormous pressure for them to leave, and I could witness even some, in one of the units, how it was shot at.

I was very proud of the courage of the UNIFIL soldiers that decided to stay. To stay at the service of peace, and to stay to create the conditions for a cease-fire to finally happen.

Now, we want to do everything possible to strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces, as we consider the Lebanese Armed Forces the absolutely essential instrument for the protection of the Lebanese people.rdquo;

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