Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdallah Bou Habib insisted on “the need for Israel to stop its aggression” against Gaza and southern Lebanon and called for “a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” during his meeting with British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly in Riyadh on Thursday.
Bou Habib had travelled on Wednesday eveningĀ alongside caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to Saudi Arabia to attend the extraordinary Arab summit on Gaza scheduled for Saturday.
The British minister arrived in the kingdom on Thursday as part of an international diplomatic mission to find a solution to the military conflict between Hamas and Israel.
In Riyadh, which is also hosting a meeting of theĀ Organization of Islamic CooperationĀ countries on Sunday, Cleverly is poised to hold talks with Middle East foreign ministers to particularly discuss ways of preventing the Israeli-Hamas conflict from spreading to Lebanon and Yemen.
This served as the backdrop for Cleverly’s meeting with Bou Habib, who told his British counterpart that “the two-state solution remains the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to stop the war and prevent it from spreading to neighboring countries.”
He also said it was necessary for “Israeli leaders to stop their provocative statements against Lebanon and the Palestinians.”
On Syria, Bou Habib said it was impossible for “the situation in Syria to remain as it is” and called on Western countries to “reconsider their approach to the Syrian crisis and help the country recover.”
