Israel renewed its threats against Lebanon on Friday, warning that it would launch a military strike from which the country “will not recover unless Hezbollah withdraws far from the southern border.”
At the same time, the Israeli media reported the deployment of “a large number of Israeli forces near the borders with Lebanon.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz made these threats during a meeting with his Italian counterpart, Antonio Tajani, who was visiting Israel as part of a regional tour he had begun in Beirut. The aim of the tour is “to try to work towards de-escalation in the region.”
According to a press release from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Katz asked Tajani to “intervene with the Lebanese government for a withdrawal of Hezbollah to the north of the Litani River.”
The text repeated warnings “against a war that would cause serious harm to Lebanese citizens.”
In Beirut, Tajani explained that “the aim of his tour is (…) to prepare the ground for a diplomatic solution, which is part of the European Union’s efforts to achieve stability in the region, based on a two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
