UN prepares emergency meeting after Netanyahu's order to attack Beirut periphery
Lebanon and Israel agreed to a truce on April 17, but it was never respected. Israel says its offensive seeks to "crush" the Shiite group Hezbollah
After invading southern Lebanon and devastating several towns, Israel ordered this Monday to bomb the outskirts of Beirut, a bastion of the radical Islamic organization Hezbollah, and an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council is expected.
The session of the UN's highest security body was convened at the request of France, whose president, Emmanuel Macron, stated that "nothing justifies the major escalation underway in southern Lebanon."
The Israeli offensive against its northern neighbor occurs in parallel with the United States' negotiations with Iran to end the war in the Middle East.
Tehran reiterated today, Monday, that any agreement with Washington will depend precisely on the implementation of an effective ceasefire in Lebanon.
Lebanon and Israel agreed to a truce on April 17, but it was never respected. Israel claims that its offensive in Lebanon seeks to "crush" the Shiite group Hezbollah - whose armed wing is considered a terrorist organization by much of the international community - which, as an ally of Iran, reopened hostilities on March 2 in solidarity with Tehran, the target of the Israeli-American campaign.
The head of Defense, Israel Katz, announced this Monday that the objective is to establish in “the Litani River area an area under army security control, free of weapons and terrorists.”
Hezbollah, for its part, continues to launch drone attacks against Israeli positions in both southern Lebanon and northern Israel.
After this announcement, journalists from the AFP agency saw hundreds of families leaving the southern outskirts, on foot, by motorcycle or in vehicles.