Lebanese prime minister says efforts ongoing to halt Israeli onslaught

By Wassim Seif El Din

BEIRUT (AA) – Arab and international efforts are ongoing to halt Israeli attacks on Lebanon “despite Israel’s intransigence,” caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Wednesday.

"Some may think that diplomatic efforts have stopped, but this is untrue, we continue to hold required contacts," Mikati said in a statement released by his office.

He affirmed that Lebanon's friends from Arab and foreign countries are continuing pressure to reach a temporary cease-fire to pave the way for discussing the primary political steps, most notably the UN Resolution 1701.

Adopted on Aug. 11, 2006, the resolution calls for a complete cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel and the establishment of a demilitarized zone between the Blue Line (the boundary between Lebanon and Israel) and the Litani River, allowing only the Lebanese army and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to possess weapons and military equipment in the area.

Mikati said the displacement crisis caused by the Israeli onslaught poses a “challenge” to the Lebanese government.

Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing more than 1,250 people, injuring 3,618 others, and displacing more than 1.2 million people.

The aerial campaign was an escalation in yearlong cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Tel Aviv’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 42,000 people, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

At least 2,119 people have since been killed and 10,019 others injured in Israeli attacks in Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities.

Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching on Oct. 1 a ground invasion into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar