“I can say that we are almost on the brink of total war.” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned on Monday (September 23) that the conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah threatened to plunge the Middle East into chaos, calling for a ceasefire between the two countries. He also denounced the fact that civilians “pay an intolerable, unacceptable price”while nearly 500 people died Monday in Lebanon after Israeli bombings targeting 1,600 targets belonging to Hezbollah. CThe airstrikes “caused the martyrdom of 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, and injured 1,645 others”assured the Emergency Operations Center of the Lebanese Ministry of Health. Follow our live stream.
G7 fears escalation. The cycle of“actions and reactions risk increasing the spiral of violence and plunging the entire Middle East into a regional conflict with unimaginable consequences”assured the G7 states in a statement on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York. China, for its part, denounced “blind attacks” against civilians.
France requests an emergency meeting of the Security Council. Paris called for an immediate halt to the strikes “led on both sides” of the UN demarcation line between Israel and Lebanon. The new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, has asked “that an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Lebanon be held this week”during the General Assembly in New York.
The United States is working on a “de-escalation.” Ahead of a meeting with Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan in Washington, Biden said they would also discuss their “efforts to end the war in Gaza”The American leader also assured that he “was working on de-escalation” in Lebanon.