ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The prime minister of Lebanon on Sunday renewed his call on the international community to mount their pressures on Israel to cease fire amid Tel Aviv’s new strikes on Beirut on Sunday.
"We demand pressure on Israel to commit to a ceasefire," the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) quoted Najib Mikati as saying.
Mikati welcomed France’s call for a ceasefire and an end to arms delivery to Israel.
"Once again, French President Emmanuel Macron expresses his support for Lebanon and stands by the Lebanese people in facing the crises afflicting them, and his announcement yesterday about holding an international conference to support Lebanon this month in France is clear evidence of this support," Mikati said.
The Lebanese state media reported new waves of strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday, while Education Minister Abbas Halabi said they would postpone the start of the school year to November 4.
Tensions are high in the region amid ongoing hostilities in Lebanon and Gaza, attacks on Israel by Iran and its proxies, and a potential “severe” Israeli retaliation to Iran’s recent ballistic missile attack.
On the first grim anniversary of the conflict, French President Emmanuel Macron called on the international community to stop arms delivery to Israel “to fight in Gaza.”
"I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza," Macron said in an interview with a French broadcaster on Saturday, noting that "France is not delivering any.”
Embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately fired back, describing Macron’s comments as a “disgrace”.
"This axis of terror stands together. But countries who supposedly oppose this terror axis call for an arms embargo on Israel. What a disgrace!” said Netanyahu, adding that Iran and its proxies are responsible for all the attacks against Israel originating from Iraq, Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, and Syria.
Lebanese Prime Minister Mikati slammed Netanyahu’s response against Macron’s call for a truce.
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attack on President Macron merely for calling for a halt to the transfer of arms to Israel for use in Gaza and considering the priority to be a political solution rather than continuing the war, proves the correctness of the French stance,” Mikati said.
"It is not surprising that this stance is met with open hostility from Netanyahu, who is a disgrace to humanity as a whole," the Lebanese premier detailed.
The Lebanese health ministry reported that Israeli airstrikes on several regions across Lebanon on Saturday killed at least 23 people and injured nearly 100 others, raising the death toll to over 1,400.
In a statement released on Saturday evening, Hezbollah claimed that more than 25 Israeli elite officers and soldiers have been killed, and more than 130 others injured, since Israel's trials for ground aggression into southern Lebanon began in early October.
The group said that while Israel has acknowledged some of these casualties, more will be revealed in the coming days.
The group also confirmed it is continuing to target concentrations of Israeli soldiers in barracks, military sites, and settlements along the Lebanese border with artillery, rockets, and heavy machine guns, claiming direct hits.
The Israeli military previously acknowledged the death of eight soldiers, including three officers, on the first day of its ground aggression. Local media also reported over 30 wounded soldiers. On Saturday, the Israeli military confirmed an additional 38 soldiers injured in the previous 24 hours in southern Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank.
Since Israel started its aggression on Lebanon, over 1.2 million people are reported to have been driven from their homes.
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