Strikes on Beirut and military evacuation orders for Lebanese cities are all “indicators” that Israel is rejecting efforts to reach a ceasefire, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati reportedly said during a meeting with UN peacekeepers in Beirut on Friday.
“The Israeli enemy’s renewed expansion of the scope of its aggression on Lebanese regions, its repeated threats to the population to evacuate entire cities and villages, and its renewed targeting of the southern suburbs of Beirut with destructive raids, are all indicators that confirm the Israeli enemy’s rejection of all efforts being made to cease fire in preparation for the full implementation of Resolution 1701,” Mikati said according to Lebanese state-run news agency NNA.
The Lebanese prime minister was referring to UN Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war.
Israeli warplanes executed extensive strikes on south Beirut overnight into Friday. On Wednesday, residents of Lebanon’s northeast city of Baalbek fled after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders. Israel said it is targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Mikati’s latest comments contradict statements he gave earlier this week expressing optimism that a ceasefire could be reached in Lebanon before Tuesday’s (November 5) US presidential election.
On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting US envoys Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk that Israel must have the ability to enforce a potential ceasefire agreement in Lebanon to thwart threats from the country.
