Iranian top diplomat says Lebanon's security crucial for regional stability

By Stephanie Radi

BEIRUT, (AA) - Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Friday announced that Iran will continue to support the resistance group in Lebanon, saying Lebanon's security is also the security of Tehran and the region.

"Iran will continue to support the resistance (group) in Lebanon," Abdollahian told a press conference at Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport upon arrival.

"Tel Aviv has not achieved any of its set objectives in the war on Gaza," he said, referring to ongoing international pressure on Tel Aviv to cease-fire, as well as facing genocide charges in a case brought by South Africa before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

He said, "Lebanon's security is Iran's security, as well as that of the region."

Since the outbreak of the war on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, Iran-backed groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and other groups in Iraq and Syria, have launched attacks on Israeli and US targets.

Despite the International Court of Justice’s provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip where at least 27,947 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 67,459 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Ankara