Paris (Union, agencies)
French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed yesterday that France and the United States are intensifying their efforts to avoid escalating the conflict in the Middle East, while giving priority to calming the situation across the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Macron added, in a joint statement with his American counterpart, Joe Biden, who is visiting France, “We are doubling our efforts to avoid the explosion of the situation in the region, especially in Lebanon.”
Macron stated that the two sides are working to “improve” the situation to reduce tension and end the institutional vacuum in Lebanon.
France and the United States have made attempts in recent months to defuse the conflict by submitting written proposals to Paris to stop the exchange of fire on the Lebanese-Israeli border.
The United States is also seeking to resolve this crisis, but diplomats have indicated problems coordinating efforts.
Macron said that the two countries have established a “close coordination” mechanism in discussions “with Israel on the one hand and with Lebanon and all concerned parties on the other side.”
Biden did not mention Lebanon in his brief statement.
Meanwhile, two people were killed in an Israeli bombing of southern Lebanon yesterday, where earlier strikes led to fires, the National News Agency reported. The official agency reported that “an Israeli drone carried out an air attack with two guided missiles” targeting a cafe among the shops in the town of Aitaroun in southern Lebanon.
Two people were killed as a result of the raid, and ambulance teams transported their bodies to a hospital in the town of Bint Jbeil. It also caused major damage to shops, a gas station, and nearby homes, according to the agency.
The agency also reported in a separate report that “Israeli warplanes carried out a violent raid on the town of Khiam.”
Since the outbreak of the Israeli war on October 7 in the Gaza Strip, there has been an exchange of shelling across the Lebanese-Israeli border on an almost daily basis, and the exchange of fire has intensified in recent weeks with the escalation of attacks and the Israeli army carrying out raids deeper into Lebanese territory.
Yesterday, widespread fires broke out in several areas in the south of the country as a result of Israeli bombing, according to what the government agency and a rescue worker reported.
Yesterday, the National Agency said, “Israeli artillery bombed with incendiary phosphorus shells the outskirts of the town of Alma al-Shaab, where the bombing caused fires in the forests that spread to the vicinity of some homes.”
She added: “The fire destroyed large areas of olive trees.” Lebanon accuses Israel of using the controversial substance white phosphorus in attacks on the south of the country, and the Lebanese authorities say it caused damage to the environment and the population.
White phosphorus munitions, a substance that flammable when in contact with oxygen, are used to form smoke curtains and illuminate the battlefield.
But this multi-use ammunition may also be used as an incendiary weapon capable of causing fatal burns in humans, respiratory and organ failure, and sometimes death. The official agency also reported that “a major fire broke out on the outskirts of the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL positions on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Mays al-Jabal and along the Blue Line,” which is the border line drawn by the United Nations in 2000 when Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon. She added: “Lebanese Civil Defense teams and UNIFIL vehicles went to work to extinguish the fire.”
The agency said in separate information that a number of mines exploded “due to the fire spreading more widely opposite the Al-Manara settlement on the outskirts of the town of Mays Al-Jabal.” A security source told Agence France-Presse that the fires broke out near army positions without reaching them directly and without causing casualties.
Within eight months, the escalation resulted in the killing of at least 458 people in Lebanon, including 90 civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse count based on official Lebanese sources.
The Israeli side, for its part, announced the killing of 15 soldiers and 11 civilians.
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