Beirut, October 22, 2023 (Xinhua) – Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati confirmed today (Sunday) the continuation of external and internal contacts to protect his country, stop Israeli attacks, and prevent the expansion of the Gaza war into Lebanon.
Mikati’s words came, according to the official Lebanese National News Agency, before his visitors today.
He said, “The diplomatic contacts we are carrying out internationally and in the Arab world and the local meetings are continuing in order to stop the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and its south in particular, and to prevent the spread of the war in Gaza to Lebanon.”
He stressed that “the meetings and preparations that we are making in order to develop a contingency plan to confront what might happen are an essential preventive step out of caution, because we are facing an enemy whose bloody history we know.”
He pointed out that “the measures taken at Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut and by Middle East Airlines (the Lebanese national carrier) are also a matter of prevention, caution, and considerations related to risk management.”
He pointed out, “At the beginning of the crisis, we chose to adopt silent action far from the media, but some took advantage of that to launch an unjustified campaign against the government and create panic among the people. To confront this, I decided to put the Lebanese in the image of what we are doing, and I ask our people to trust that we are continuing the required effort.” To keep all harm away from Lebanon.”
With the escalation of skirmishes and military confrontation on the Lebanese-Israeli border between the Israeli army and the Lebanese Hezbollah, with the participation of the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements, Arab countries asked their citizens to leave Lebanon for fear that the situation would deteriorate without warning.
The Lebanese “Middle East Airlines” company also took precautionary measures in the context of dealing with any scenario of the war spreading to Lebanon, as it reduced its flights and operating aircraft to more than half and transferred planes to airports in Turkey, Qatar and Cyprus in light of insurance companies reducing insurance coverage against the risks of war on aviation. In Lebanon, 80%.
Several airlines suspended or canceled their flights to Beirut, including Saudi, Swiss, Greek and German airlines.
While Lebanon has received several Western advice and warnings to keep matters under control on the Lebanese-Israeli border, Lebanese fears are intensifying and escalating that the current war will target Lebanon with its fire.
As part of its anticipation of the coming possibilities, the Lebanese government has developed an emergency plan regarding disaster management to confront any development of the situation.
The villages adjacent to the Lebanese-Israeli border witnessed an increase in population displacement towards safer areas, and the official Lebanese news agency reported that more than 1,500 Lebanese and Syrian families were displaced to the southern coastal city of Tyre, and were distributed among a number of shelter centers in public and private schools.
The tension on the border between Lebanon and Israel rose after Hamas launched Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7, as the border witnesses daily intermittent bombing and shooting between Hezbollah, Palestinian movements, and the Israeli army, resulting in deaths and injuries on both sides.
2023-10-23 02:17:55
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