The US warned Israel against conducting the same destructive campaign in Lebanon as it had in Gaza, even as it continued to support Israel’s goal of pushing Hezbollah back to the Litani River.
“We cannot and will not see Lebanon turn into another Gaza. That is not what we want to see,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
She appeared to reference the 21-day ceasefire proposal put forward by both the United States and France last month, as she stressed that ceasefire efforts continued.
“We are working our way back towards a ceasefire process, that’s going to create a space to negotiate a diplomatic resolution that only ends the fighting,” Jean-Pierre stated.
She spoke amid the escalating IDF-Hezbollah violence in the year-long war, as Israel sought to push the terror group away from its border and back to the Litani River.
Litani River
Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon has killed more than 2,100 people, most of them in the last two weeks, and forced 1.2 million people from their homes, according to Reuters. Over 60,000 Israelis have been unable to live in their northern border communities for the last year.
France plans to hold an international ministerial conference over the crisis in Lebanon on Oct. 24 that will focus on the political situation there and humanitarian aid amid an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, the foreign ministry said.
“Its objective will be to mobilize the international community to respond to the protection and emergency relief needs of the Lebanese population and to identify ways of supporting Lebanon’s institutions, in particular the Lebanese Armed Forces, which are the guarantors of the country’s internal stability,” the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
Israel has not been invited and it was not clear whether different Lebanese political representatives would be invited.
Paris has historical ties with Lebanon and has been working with the United States in trying to secure a ceasefire in the Middle Eastern country. Those talks stalled at the end of September when Israel heavily bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
The foreign ministry said the conference would include regional and international partners of Lebanon, the United Nations as well as civil society partners.
“Faced with a serious and profound political and humanitarian crisis, France will recall through this conference the urgency of a cessation of hostilities and a diplomatic solution,” it said, adding that the appointment of a president should be a first step.
Reuters contributed to this report.
