Tensions are rising in the Middle East. In the coming hours or days, there could be an escalation between Israel and Lebanon. In turn, the president of Turkey is threatening Israel with military intervention.
The situation in the Middle East is escalating after rockets fell on a soccer field in the town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday (July 27), killing 12 children. The authorities in Jerusalem blamed the attack on the Lebanese Hezbollah, which, however, denies guilt and claims that an Israeli rocket hit the field.
The United States also confirmed that a Lebanese armed group was behind the attack. “This attack was carried out by the Lebanese Hezbollah. It was their rocket that was fired from territory they control,” the White House said in a statement yesterday (July 28).
The attack caused the Israeli Prime Minister to Benjamin Netanyahu He cut his visit to the US short and returned to the country, where he convened a meeting of the security cabinet, which decided to retaliate. The prime minister’s office said Netanyahu and the defence minister had received permission to decide how and when to respond to the attack.
Yesterday Israel already struck targets in southern Lebanon. However, this will most likely not be the end and there will be further attacks on Lebanese territory.
Fears of Israeli attacks have led to the suspension of many flights at Beirut Airport. Scheduled flights have been canceled by numerous airlines, including Germany’s Lufthansa, Turkey’s SunExpress and AJet, Greece’s Aegean Airlines, Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines, and Ethiopian Ethiopian Air.
World leaders against escalation
World leaders are trying to convince Israel not to take action that could escalate the situation and lead to a regional war, which could end with large-scale attacks on Lebanese territory.
– We do not want this conflict to escalate and spread – said the US Secretary of State Antony Blinkenwho is visiting Japan.
In turn, the President of France Emmanuel Macron In 2018, he held a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu, during which he stated that France was ready to do “everything to avoid another escalation in the region, as he informed all parties involved in the conflict.”
Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdallah Bou Habib appealed to the United States to convince Israel to show restraint. The Lebanese authorities also made a similar appeal to Hezbollah.
Erdogan threatens Israel
Tensions in the Middle East were further increased by yesterday’s statement by the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoganwho threatened Israel with military intervention if it continued its campaign against the Palestinians.
“We have to be very strong so that Israel cannot do these absurd things in Palestine. We went into Karabakh, we went into Libya, we can do the same to them. There is no reason why we cannot do it. We have to be strong so that we can take such steps,” he said at a meeting of his party in Rize.
– Who can guarantee that those who are destroying Gaza today will not turn their attention to Anatolia tomorrow? – he asked.
The Israeli Foreign Minister quickly responded. Israel Kac. “Erdogan follows in the footsteps Saddam Hussein and threatens to attack Israel. He should remember what happened then and how it ended,” he wrote on social media.
Relations between Turkey and Israel have been tense since the outbreak of the conflict in the Gaza Strip. Turkish authorities accuse Jerusalem of war crimes. In response, Israel withdrew some of its diplomats from Ankara.
The conflict in the Gaza Strip has been ongoing since October last year. As a result of Israeli actions, more than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed, many of them civilians, including women and children.
