Lebanon to boycott Warsaw conference on Mideast due to Israeli attendance

Lebanon will not take part in a conference that Poland is holding this week on the situation in the Middle East and Iran, due to Israel’s participation.

Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil makes the announcement during a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif.

The two-day Warsaw conference begins on Wednesday and will be co-hosted by the US. Some 80 countries have been invited, including Israel. The conference is widely seen as aimed at isolating Iran, which was not invited.

“We explained why we will not be present at the Warsaw conference… Israel will be present and because of the orientation the conference is expected to take,” Bassil says according to Lebanon’s Naharnet news site.

Iran enjoys wide influence in Lebanon through the Hezbollah terrorist group, which along with allied parties holds a majority in parliament.

Lebanon is technically at war with Israel, and Lebanese officials avoid conferences where Israelis are present.

— with AP