European Union foreign policy official Josep Borrell, whose meetings on Saturday (6 January 2024) in Beirut were attended by representatives of Hezbollah, stressed the need to avoid “dragging” Lebanon into a regional conflict, given the impact of the escalation on the border with Israel since the beginning of the war. war In the Gaza Strip.
Borrell said in a joint press conference with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib: “It is absolutely necessary to avoid dragging Lebanon into a regional conflict,” while addressing the Israelis by saying: “No one will emerge victorious from a regional conflict.” . conflict.”
Since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, 2023, the Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed a daily exchange of shelling between Hezbollah and the Israeli army. Hezbollah announces that it is targeting Israeli military sites and points, while the Israeli army responds with aerial and artillery bombardments, which it says target “infrastructure” and fighter movements. However, fears of widening the scope of the war have increased after the killing of the deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau Saleh Al-Arouri Last Tuesday there was an air attack in the southern suburb of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold. Lebanese authorities, Hezbollah, Hamas and Washington said the operation was conducted by Israel. The Jewish state has not officially commented. Interestingly, the Hamas movement is a Palestinian Islamic armed group, classified as a terrorist organization by Germany, the European Union, the United States and other countries.
Hezbollah promised that the killing of Al-Arouri “will not go unpunished”. On Saturday he announced the launch of more than 60 missiles at an air control base in northern Israel, in a move he said constituted an “initial response” to the killing of Al-Arouri.
In the same context, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has launched diplomatic efforts in an attempt to stop the expansion of the three-month-old conflict in Gaza into the occupied West Bank, Lebanon and the Red Sea shipping lanes.
Borrell, who met with some Lebanese officials, said: “I believe that war can and should be avoided, and that diplomacy can prevail to seek a better solution,” stressing that “a regional escalation in the Middle East must be avoided. ” He stressed the need to “reopen diplomatic channels to indicate that war is not the only option, but rather the worst option.”
The killing of Hamas’ “most important minds”. Who is Saleh Al-Arouri?
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In a remarkable step, Borrell’s meetings included… Beirut Representatives of Hezbollah, as a European Union source confirmed to Agence France-Presse. The source said Borrell’s visit to the region “aims to help prevent further escalation.” He stressed that Borrell “is engaged in diplomatic dialogue with all relevant political representatives who have influence on the situation on the ground or who have an interest in it.”
The source did not identify the official who met with Borrell, but local media reported that he met with MP Muhammad Raad, head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc.
The meetings of European officials in Beirut were attended by Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and the commander of the United Nations interim force in southern Lebanon, General Aroldo Lazaro. During the meeting with Borrell, Mikati warned, according to a statement from his press office, that any “large-scale bombing in southern Lebanon will lead the region to a global explosion.”
A statement from UNIFIL said Borrell and Lazaro discussed “the current situation along the Blue Line and the importance of preventing further escalation” and believed that “seeking a diplomatic solution is not only possible, but also necessary” .
Borrell’s statements came at a time when Beirut is seeing visits from Western diplomats seeking to exercise restraint, avoid an escalation between Israel and Lebanon and push for solutions that could include resolving the land border dispute between the two countries.
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said Friday that “having finished this phase and stopped the aggression against Gaza… we now face a historic opportunity to completely liberate every inch of our Lebanese land.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant responded to the statements by underlining that Israel “prefers the diplomatic route to the military one” to restore calm in the northern areas on the border with Lebanon.
In recent weeks, the Lebanese authorities have expressed their willingness to implement international resolution 1701, which puts an end to the devastating war fought by Hezbollah and Israel in 2006, and provides for the deployment of the Lebanese army only along the border with Israel, provided that the latter withdraw from the border lands occupied and claimed by Lebanon.
The escalation at the border with… Israel According to the latest toll on Saturday, 181 people were killed in Lebanon, including 135 Hezbollah members.
Many countries consider Lebanese Hezbollah, or its military wing, to be a terrorist organization. These countries include the United States, European Union countries, Great Britain and Arab countries. Germany also banned the party’s activity on its territory in 2020 and classified it as a “terrorist organisation”.
kkh/a (AFP, DPA, Reuters)
Southern Lebanon: displaced people, those who refuse to leave and children, the most important victims
The number of displaced people increases every day from villages in southern Lebanon to towns and villages north and south of the Litani River. Some of the population of the border villages refused to leave, while others were displaced in difficult circumstances and awaiting a date to return home.
Image by: Abbas Al-khashali/news
Fatima speaks in silence
He turned in the shadow of a car, into the center for displaced people in Tyre. Her face says a lot, despite her silence. She smiles and hides many details and perhaps questions in search of answers. Young people are those who suffer most from displacement, being away from home and living in difficult conditions.
Image by: Abbas Al-khashali/news
Ali… a Syrian refugee
Little Ali is a Syrian refugee from the war in his country in southern Lebanon. He did not leave the city of Bint Jbeil with his family. Non-stop asylum and displacement trips. From war to conflict zones. According to government estimates, there are 1.5 million Syrian refugees living in the country.
Image by: Abbas Al-khashali/news
Zainab lives with her family in their house within a field of olive trees in the town of Majdal Salam, near the border with Israel. She still goes to school. Despite the exchange of bombings between the Israeli army, Palestinian factions and Lebanese Hezbollah, Zainab and her family decided to stay and her kittens accompanied them to the field.
Image by: Abbas Al-khashali/news
Bread and Manaish
Many shops and shop owners have closed their shops in Bint Jbeil. Some decided not to leave and stayed. Despite the bombing and the roar of warplanes, some still live in a town separated from the border only by a nearby hill.
Image by: Abbas Al-khashali/news
Shisha despite the circumstances
Among those who refused to leave Bint Jbeil was a man whose house faced the hill that here forms the border separating Lebanon and Israel. He insists on awaiting developments in the situation in light of the tension on the border between Lebanon and Israel and the intermittent exchange of fire and missiles between the Israeli army and Hezbollah since the start of the conflict between Hamas and Israel on 7 October.
Image by: Abbas Al-khashali/news
Waiting for developments
People spread news about Gaza and the rockets falling here and there. One of them says: “As long as the conflict is limited, we will stay here. We will not leave our land.” Even though many of them have relatives in Sidon or Beirut. Many countries consider Lebanese Hezbollah, or its military wing, to be a terrorist organization. These countries include the United States, the European Union, Great Britain, and most Arab countries. Germany also banned the party’s activity on its territory in 2020 and classified it as a “terrorist organisation”.
Image by: Abbas Al-khashali/news
No education at school
In the city of Tire alone, more than 16 thousand displaced people from the south arrived. Some of them took refuge in the city’s school and university buildings. There are no schools for these young people in these circumstances after they and their families have left their homes.
Image by: Abbas Al-khashali/news
A university transformed into a refuge
Living conditions are difficult in a university building in the city of Tyre, which has been transformed into a shelter where displaced people have been living for more than a month. They are waiting for more help to arrive and for their living conditions to improve. A number of schools in the southern city of Tire and its district have been designated to accommodate displaced people after they stopped teaching, and the number of their students is estimated at more than two thousand Lebanese and Syrian students.
Image by: Abbas Al-khashali/news
The corridors became shelters
This little boy, along with his sister, other sisters and his parents, all live in one room (school room). Tension is still confined to the border villages and areas south of the Litani River, while anxiety prevails starting from the city of Tyre, to the north, and the city of Nabatieh, to the east.
Image by: Abbas Al-khashali/news
Waiting for help
The International Organization for Migration has warned that displacement in Lebanon could “overwhelm an already fragile health system”, especially as it faces severe shortages of resources, including medicines. The movement of displaced people increases as tension increases: an official from the Union of Municipalities of Tire told news Arabia that the number rises to around 500 people every day. Prepared by: WN
Image by: Abbas Al-khashali/news
2024-01-06 21:45:43
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