The United States is trying to increase pressure on Israel, saying it is “opposed” to the bombing campaign carried out on Beirut and threatening its ally to suspend aid in the absence of a “dramatic” increase in humanitarian assistance to the strip. of Gaza, at its lowest according to the UN.
The Israeli army struck southern Beirut on Wednesday morning, after Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he was opposed to any “unilateral” ceasefire in Lebanon. Two strikes hit the Shiite neighborhood of Haret Hreik in southern Beirut in the early morning, a few minutes after the Israeli army issued an evacuation order from this area suspected of harboring “interests” of the pro-Iranian movement. .
Information to remember
⇒ US gives Israel 30 days to improve humanitarian situation in Gaza
⇒ Emmanuel Macron criticizes indiscriminate Israeli strikes in Lebanon and Gaza
⇒ New strikes on south Beirut after Israeli evacuation order
08:00
Iran will “respond” to any Israeli attack, says Tehran
Iran will “respond resolutely” to any Israeli attack, warned the head of Iranian diplomacy Abbas Araghchi during a call on Tuesday with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, against a backdrop of high regional tensions.
“Iran is making considerable efforts to protect the peace and security of the region, but is fully prepared to respond resolutely to any adventure” by Israel and “to make it regret it,” said in a statement published this Iranian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.
07:30
New strikes on Beirut
The Israeli army struck southern Beirut on Wednesday morning, after Israeli Prime Minister Nejamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he was opposed to any “unilateral” ceasefire in Lebanon. Two strikes hit the Shiite neighborhood of Haret Hreik in southern Beirut in the early morning, a few minutes after the Israeli army issued an evacuation order from this area suspected of harboring “interests” of the pro-Iranian movement. . The Israeli army said it had struck a warehouse of “strategic weapons belonging to the terrorist organization Hezbollah”.
07:00
Hezbollah launched a salvo of rockets at northern Israel
Hezbollah claimed to have fired “a large salvo of missiles” in the direction of Safed during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. This is the third time in less than two days that the Islamist movement has attacked this city in northern Israel. He also said he had launched “salvos of missiles” against Israeli artillery positions in Dalton and Dishon (north-east). The Israeli army reported the firing of 50 missiles on the north of the country from Lebanon, without reporting any casualties.
The Shiite movement assured Tuesday that it had twice shot down an “Israeli Hermes 450 type drone”, adding that one of them was seen “burning” on the Israeli side of the border. The pro-Iranian formation now claims to be engaged in “close combat” with Israeli troops who launched land incursions into southern Lebanon bordering northern Israel on September 30.
06:45
3,000 French people left Lebanon
Some 3,000 French nationals have left Lebanon and “returned to France” due to the conflict between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday during a hearing at the National Assembly.
“To date, there are approximately, even if these figures are difficult to establish, 3,000 of our compatriots established in Lebanon who have returned to France, of whom more than 350 have benefited from return assistance from the “embassy” of France in coordination with the crisis and support center at the Quai d’Orsay, declared Jean-Noël Barrot. Around 23,000 French people usually live in Lebanon.
For the moment, France has not decided to evacuate its nationals. “No evacuation decision has been taken by France, but as with many other situations, we are preparing, if necessary, to make these decisions,” assured Jean-Noël Barrot.
06:30
Washington gives Israel 30 days to improve humanitarian situation in Gaza
The United States threatened Israel on Tuesday, October 15, with suspending part of its military assistance if there is no significant improvement in humanitarian aid in the besieged Gaza Strip, giving it a deadline of 30 days. The warning comes in a letter dated Sunday to Israeli authorities from US Foreign and Defense Ministers Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin, in which they deplore the current low level of humanitarian aid for the Palestinian territory devastated by a year of war.
American law requires that recipients of American military aid not “arbitrarily” refuse or obstruct the delivery of American humanitarian aid. Failing this, the United States must suspend its aid. However, the UN estimated on Tuesday that the population of the Gaza Strip was facing the worst restrictions limiting humanitarian aid in a year. The letter mentions, for example, the need for Israel to let in up to 350 humanitarian aid trucks per day, to open a fifth crossing point into the Gaza Strip and to limit evacuation orders to what is strictly necessary. .
Furthermore, the United States said on Tuesday that it was “opposed” to the bombing campaign carried out by Israel on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and informed the Israeli authorities of this. “We have made it clear to Israel that we oppose the bombing campaign it has launched in recent weeks in Beirut,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters, stressing that these strikes had decreased in intensity in recent days.
06:15
Emmanuel Macron criticizes indiscriminate Israeli strikes in Lebanon and Gaza
Already inflamed, the tone rose again on Tuesday between French President Emmanuel Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with a new very firm exchange which this time focused on the role of the UN in the creation of the State of Israel. “Mr Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a UN decision,” launched Emmanuel Macron during the Council of Ministers. And therefore, this is not the time to free ourselves from UN decisions,” he continued, addressing, indirectly, the Israeli Prime Minister with whom he then spoke on the phone.
Benyamin Netanyahu was visibly stung by these statements and made it known with a thunderous response. “A reminder to the President of France: it was not the UN resolution that established the State of Israel, but rather the victory achieved in the War of Independence with the blood of heroic fighters, many of whom were survivors of the Holocaust – notably of the Vichy regime in France”, reacted the head of the Israeli government in a press release.
Furthermore, President Macron, during his interview with Benjamin Netanyahu, condemned “indiscriminate Israeli strikes which only increase an already unbearable human toll, in Gaza as in Lebanon”, according to a report on Wednesday October 16 from the Élysée, which does not mention the passages criticized by the Prime Minister.