First senior Western diplomat to visit Lebanon since the intensification of Israeli strikesthe head of French diplomacy Jean-Noël Barrot arrived Sunday evening in Beirut. He handed over emergency health aid to Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad, who “thanked” for this “donation of 11 and a half tons”. Emergency aid of ten million euros was also released for “support the humanitarian organizations deployed there, including the Lebanese Red Cross”, explained Jean-Noël Barrot.
The arrival of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs coincides with the announcement of the death of a second Frenchman in circumstances not yet specified. An 87-year-old French woman died on September 23 after a “strong explosion” in a village in the south of the country. For the moment, France has not announced any repatriation operations and has not ordered evacuations. Of its more than 20,000 nationals, nine out of ten are dual nationals.
Lebanese Ministry of Health / Ha / ANADOLU / Anadolu
First Israeli strike in the heart of Beirut
The Israeli army carried out a strike in the heart of Beirut on Monday, the first since the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah a year ago. If in recent days, the Israeli army has repeatedly shelled the southern suburbs of Beirut, stronghold of the Islamist movement, this is the first time that it has targeted the heart of the capital since the start of the front opened by Hezbollah on October 8, the day after the unprecedented attack by Palestinian Hamas in Israel.
This raid comes as the Israeli army maintains its military pressure against Hezbollah for the eighth consecutive dayvia violent strikes against its strongholds across Lebanon, three days after killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah. Before dawn Monday, the Israeli army announced that it had struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in the Bekaa region, including “dozens of launchers and buildings where weapons were stored.” Israeli raids on Sunday at least 105 deadaccording to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
After a year of cross-border exchanges of fire with Hezbollah and allied formations, the Israeli army intensified its bombings from September 23 to allow the return to northern Israel of its inhabitants displaced by the exchanges of fire.
“Great concern”
This situation makes the international community fear a regional conflagration. All-out war in the Middle East “should be avoided”urged US President Joe Biden, after describing Nasrallah’s death as “measure of justice”. Saudi Arabia, a major player in the region and influential in Lebanon, for its part called for respect for the “sovereignty and territorial integrity” of this country, expressing its “great concern” faced with the intensification of the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, in the midst of an offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
According to Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, nearly a million people could have been displaced by Israeli bombings, the largest population displacement in the country’s history according to him. The World Food Program announced an emergency operation to provide food aid to one million people.
