Conflicts & War

Lebanese PM to file ‘urgent’ complaint to UN over Beirut strike

Beirut, Jan. 2 (EFE) – Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Tuesday ordered his government to file an “urgent” complaint with the United Nations Security Council to protest the drone strike that killed at least six people in an office of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on the outskirts of Beirut and any “new Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty.”

The leader “called Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and asked him to submit an urgent complaint to the Security Council in connection with the flagrant attack on Lebanese sovereignty with the bombing that occurred in the southern suburbs of Beirut,” the Presidency of the Council of Ministers said in a statement.

An Israeli drone killed six people earlier on Tuesday, including the number two of Hamas’ political bureau, Saleh al Arouri, in the first attack on the Lebanese capital area since the 2006 war between the Jewish state and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, and when asked to confirm that Israel was behind Arouri’s killing, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari told a media briefing: “We are focused on killing Hamas.”

Separately, Mikati denounced the action as an attempt to “drag Lebanon into a new phase of confrontation” despite his efforts to prevent it, and called on the international community to “put pressure” on Israel to end its attacks on Lebanese territory.

“As always, Lebanon is committed to the resolutions of international legitimacy, especially Resolution 1701, but Israel violated it and is still not satisfied with the killing and destruction,” the leader denounced.

Since Oct. 8, as part of the war between Israel and Hamas, Hezbollah has also been engaged in intense crossfire with Israeli forces from its side of the border.

The border outbreak, the worst in 17 years, has raised fears that Lebanon could become a second front in the Gaza war, a scenario for which the Lebanese government has been preparing for more than two months with a contingency plan at various levels. EFE

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