The Lebanese prime minister stresses the importance of a ceasefire in Gaza in a meeting with Blinken
The interim Prime Minister of Lebanon, Najib Mitaki, met this Saturday in Amman, capital of Jordan, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, to whom he stressed the importance of diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza, according to the Lebanese News Agency. In addition, Mitaki told the US diplomatic chief that Israeli aggression against southern Lebanon must also stop, an area where the Shiite militia Hezbollah operates and where there have been exchanges of fire between its members and the Israeli army.
The Lebanese prime minister has highlighted his country’s commitment to international law and United Nations resolutions, in particular 1701, a text that defends the cessation of hostilities in southern Lebanon and the withdrawal of Israeli forces behind the so-called Blue Line, a crossing through Lebanon The border was set by the UN and is still guarded by its troops since Israel fought a war with Hezbollah troops in 2006 – the Lebanese army did not take part in it. Since then, both countries have technically been at war.
Blinken, for his part, has highlighted his efforts to halt military operations in Gaza on humanitarian grounds and secure the release of the more than 240 hostages captured by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack on Israeli territory.
The US Secretary of State yesterday called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “do more to protect civilians” in Gaza and the West Bank. At a press conference in Tel Aviv on Friday, Blinken insisted on Washington’s support for Israel (“not only has the right but the duty to defend itself,” he said), despite hundreds of deaths every day – more than 9,200 a year Hamas called on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to “do more to protect Palestinian civilians” in its offensive and to “do everything possible” to allow humanitarian aid to enter through Egypt, although this is limited to dozens of trucks each Day without fuel, a commodity that both the generators in the hospitals in the Gaza Strip and the desalination plants that make the water drinkable need to function.
The head of American diplomacy also found words for the West Bank, where ultranationalist settlers have driven hundreds of Palestinians from their homes and the death toll is unprecedented in two decades. There, too, Blinken said yesterday, civilians must be “protected” and “extreme violence against Palestinians must be stopped.”
The US Secretary of State will also meet with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, as well as Palestinian representatives, in Amman today.