From the Liveblog of
Saturday, January 6, 2024
In Beirut, EU’s top diplomat says ‘absolutely necessary’ Lebanon not dragged into war
BEIRUT — The European Union foreign policy chief warns against a regional conflict that would involve Lebanon, as border clashes intensified nearly three months into Israel’s war with Hezbollah ally Hamas.
“It is imperative to avoid regional escalation in the Middle East. It is absolutely necessary to avoid Lebanon being dragged into a regional conflict,” Josep Borrell says during a press conference in Beirut with Lebanon’s foreign minister.
“I am sending this message to Israel too: Nobody will win from a regional conflict,” he adds.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily cross-border fire since Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel, which triggered the war.
But a strike in Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold that killed Hamas’s deputy leader, Saleh al-Arouri, on Tuesday intensified fears of a wider conflagration.
A US Defense Department official, who requested not to be identified by name, has told AFP that Israel carried out the strike that killed Arouri. Israel has not claimed responsibility.
The Lebanese terror group said today it retaliated by launching dozens of rockets at a northern Israeli base. Israel’s army said it identified around 40 rocket launches from Lebanese territory, and struck a cell responsible for some of them.
“I think that the war can be prevented, has to be avoided and diplomacy can prevail,” Borrell tells reporters.
“Diplomatic channels have to be open to signal that the war is not the only option but it is the worst option,” he says.
