“Israel is pushing the region towards open war,” said the heads of diplomacy of Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan in a joint statement issued on Wednesday, condemning ‘the Israeli aggression on Lebanon’.
The three foreign ministers also discussed the organization of a “tripartite summit” of the leaders of the three countries, to be held in Cairo, according to the statement.
“The ministers condemned the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, assuring that Israel is pushing the region towards open war,” the text adds, calling on ”the international community and the Security Council to take their responsibility to stop the war.”
Referring to “the dangerous escalation underway in the region,” the ministers also agreed that “stopping this escalation begins with stopping Israeli aggression in Gaza,” according to a joint communiqué issued by the three countries at the end of a meeting of foreign ministers in New York on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Tensions between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel have redoubled in recent days, raising fears of a full-scale regional conflict fueled by the war in Gaza.
Since Monday, intense Israeli strikes have targeted strongholds of the pro-Iranian Shiite movement in southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Hundreds were killed.
These attacks came after several heavy blows to Hezbollah last week: deadly explosions hit the movement’s transmission equipment, and an Israeli strike left 55 dead, decapitating its elite al-Radwan force, whose leader Ibrahim Aqil was killed.
Hezbollah retaliated by firing towards northern Israel and announced on Wednesday that it had targeted the headquarters of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service, near Tel Aviv with a ballistic missile. The Israeli army said it had intercepted the projectile.
With AFP
