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French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne is visiting Lebanon as part of a renewed push for calm as fighting intensifies between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement – Copyright AFP –<\/small><\/em><\/p>\nFrance\u2019s top diplomat on Sunday urged de-escalation between Israel and the Hezbollah movement during his second visit to Lebanon since cross-border tensions flared alongside the Gaza war.<\/p>\n
Israel and Lebanon\u2019s Iran-backed Hezbollah group have exchanged near-daily fire since Hamas\u2019s unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Fighting has intensified in recent weeks, with Israel striking deeper into Lebanese territory, while Hezbollah has stepped up its missile and drone attacks on military positions in northern Israel.<\/p>\n
The United States has led diplomatic efforts to halt violence along the border with Israel, with France also seeking ways to calm tensions.<\/p>\n
Paris presented to both Lebanon and Israel an initiative earlier this year seeking to end hostilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe refuse a worst-case scenario\u2026 No one has any interest in Israel and Hezbollah continuing this escalation. This is my message here,\u201d French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne told reporters in Beirut.<\/p>\n
He said he \u201cwill bring this same message to Israel on Tuesday,\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hezbollah has repeatedly declared that only a ceasefire in Gaza will put an end to its attacks on Israel.<\/p>\n
A French diplomatic source told AFP that the volume of cross-border attacks had doubled since April 13.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the press conference Sejourne met Lebanese officials, including Prime Minister Najib Mikati, army chief Joseph Aoun and influential parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Proposals \u2018to avoid war\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
A return to stability \u201crequires the redeployment of armed forces in southern Lebanon,\u201d he added, referring to a region where Hezbollah holds sway.<\/p>\n
In March, Beirut submitted its response to the French initiative, based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended a 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.<\/p>\n
The resolution called for the removal of weapons in southern Lebanon from everyone except the army and other state security forces.<\/p>\n
The objective of that roadmap, Sejourne said, \u201cis to achieve the full implementation by all parties of Security Council Resolution 1701.\u201d<\/p>\n
Berri and Mikati both said that Lebanon was keen on implementing the UN resolution, according to separate statements following their meetings with Sejourne.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe French initiative constitutes a practical framework for implementing Resolution 1701, which Lebanon is committed to implementing in full, while demanding Israel commit to it and stop its destructive aggression against southern Lebanon,\u201d Mikati said in a statement.<\/p>\n
More than four years into an economic collapse, and essentially leaderless, Lebanon is ill-prepared for regional conflict.<\/p>\n
Mikati has for about two years headed a caretaker government with reduced powers after a general election failed to deliver a majority to either of Lebanon\u2019s rival power blocs.<\/p>\n
The country has not had a president since late 2022 when Michel Aoun\u2019s mandate ended without agreement on a successor.<\/p>\n
Sejourne urged Lebanese leaders to \u201cassume their responsibility\u201d to agree on a new president and a government.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout an elected president, without a fully-functioning government, Lebanon will not\u2026 be invited to the discussion table,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day Sejourne visited the headquarters of the United Nations\u2019 peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL), which includes around 700 French troops.<\/p>\n
Sejourne reiterated that Paris has been making proposals to \u201cavoid war in Lebanon\u201d.<\/p>\n
Since October 8 at least 385 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 254 Hezbollah fighters and dozens of civilians, according to an AFP tally.<\/p>\n
Israel says 11 soldiers and nine civilians have been killed on its side of the border.<\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides.<\/p>\n
burs-jos\/ila-aya\/it<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
In Lebanon, top French diplomat seeks Israel-Hezbollah de-escalation
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#Lebanon #top #French #diplomat #seeks #IsraelHezbollah #deescalation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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