Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday he was doing his best to prevent his country from “entering the war” between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas, warning of a regional conflagration.
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Since the start of the war sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented bloody attack in Israel on October 7, pro-Iranian Hezbollah and its southern Lebanon allies have raised fire against Israel, claiming support for the Palestinian Islamist movement.
In an interview with AFP, Najib Mikati emphasized that he “cannot rule out an escalation.” “I am doing my duty to prevent Lebanon from entering war,” he assured. “Lebanon is in the eye of the storm.”
Mr. Mikati, who has effectively led the country without a president for a year, said he could not say whether Hezbollah, with whom he maintains contacts, wanted a new war with Israel.
“It all depends on developments in the region,” he said, estimating that without a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the risk of “regional escalation” would be great.
Analysts believe that an intensification of the Israeli offensive in Gaza could prompt Hezbollah to intervene more openly.
Its leader Hassan Nasrallah is expected to speak this Friday for the first time since October 7th.
“To this day I see that Hezbollah acts with wisdom and reason,” but at the same time “I cannot reassure the Lebanese,” emphasized Najib Mikati.
“Security chaos”
Since October 8, Hezbollah has notably bombed Israeli positions near the border between the two countries in support of Hamas.
According to an AFP count, at least 62 people were killed in the exchange of fire, including 47 Hezbollah fighters. According to the Israeli army, four people were killed on the Israeli side of the border.
But the Shiite party, which has a large arsenal, has refrained from intensively bombing Israeli territory as it did during the 2006 war between it and Israel.
Mr Mikati warned that an escalation “would not only affect Lebanon”. “I fear that an escalation will affect the entire region and security chaos will spread throughout the Middle East.”
Since the start of the war, Iran’s allies have also attacked Israel from Syrian territory and at US bases in Syria and Iraq, raising fears of the conflict expanding.
Mediation in Qatar
Mr Mikati, who made a brief visit to Qatar on Sunday, stressed that Doha had played “a very important role, particularly in the ongoing mediation” to end the war between Israel and Hamas.
This war, which entered its 24th day on Monday, has already left thousands dead.
Hamas, which took more than 230 people hostage, agreed to release them in exchange for more than 5,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
The Lebanese prime minister noted that Qatar’s mediation “was almost successful last Friday, but was sabotaged by Israeli land operations in Gaza.”
Now Qatar is trying to “restart these negotiations in the hope that they will lead to a ceasefire” and a “prisoner exchange,” he said.
Elect a president
Mr. Mikati, who heads a resigned government with reduced powers, also stressed that it was urgent that “Lebanon elects a president as soon as possible.”
“This political vacuum is not good for Lebanon.”
Since the end of Michel Aoun’s mandate on October 31, 2022, MPs have been unable to agree on the appointment of a successor, and parliament has been divided between the Hezbollah camp and its opponents.
The prime minister called on “deputies to come together and elect a head of state” as the country has plunged into a deep economic crisis that has plunged the majority of the population into poverty.
“The Lebanese have had enough wars, they have lived through them one generation after another,” added Mr. Mikati, whose country, in addition to the various episodes of conflict with Israel, has also experienced a long civil war (1975-1990). . ).