Escalating tensions: Lebanon PM pulls out of UN General Assembly, gives reason
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has cancelled his trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York after Israeli strikes on a Beirut suburb killed at least 37 people.
Mikati disclosed in a statement that the trip was intended as part of the “intensification of Lebanese diplomatic action to stop the prolonged Israeli aggression against Lebanon.”
“However, in light of developments related to the Israeli aggression, I decided to refrain from traveling,” he said in a statement released by the state-run news agency NNA.
Mikati urged the international community to intervene and stop what he called Israel’s massacres, calling for the adoption of international laws to protect civilians “from being military and war targets.”
Israel’s attack on Beirut, which targeted Hezbollah commanders, killed 16 members, including senior leader Ibrahim Aqil and commander Ahmed Wahbi, in what was the deadliest strike in nearly a year of conflict.
The strike significantly escalated the conflict and dealt a blow to Hezbollah after two days of attacks in which communication devices, such as pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members, exploded.
These attacks were widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, although Israeli authorities have neither confirmed nor denied involvement.
Cross-border strikes spread, with Israeli warplanes launching the most intense bombardment in 11 months of fighting in southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah claimed rocket attacks on military targets in northern Israel.
