A new call for calm sent from France. The head of French diplomacy, Jean-Noël Barrot, insisted on Monday with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar on “the need for all parties to respect the ceasefire in Lebanon”, according to a press release from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs . This telephone interview comes as several Israeli strikes have targeted Lebanon since the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into force on November 27.
Video“Cries of joy and sadness”: after the ceasefire, the return of Lebanese to Beirut
Several Israeli strikes have targeted Lebanon since the ceasefire came into force between Israel and Hezbollah, which for its part has not announced a response. On Monday, an Israeli drone targeted a Lebanese army post in Hermel, a region of the Bekaa plain in eastern Lebanon, far from the border with Israel, injuring one soldier according to the army.
For his part, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Monday rejected accusations that Israel is violating the truce in force in Lebanon with pro-Iranian Hezbollah. “We hear that Israel is violating the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon” which entered into force on November 27. “On the contrary, Israel is enforcing it” in response “to Hezbollah violations that call for immediate action,” he said in a statement.
“The minister stressed that the agreement on a ceasefire in Lebanon should pave the way for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages and the massive entry of humanitarian aid », Reports the Quai d’Orsay. The Minister of Foreign Affairs also affirmed that “France will assume its part by making new humanitarian commitments on the occasion of the Conference on Humanitarian Aid to Gaza”, which is currently being held in Cairo.
“The two ministers discussed the situation in Syria and the Iranian nuclear program,” we then read in this press release. For the first time since the start of the war in 2011, the regime of Bashar al-Assad has completely lost control of Aleppo, the country's second city, following an offensive led by the radical Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and rebel factions.
