During his visit to Lebanon on Saturday, European Union foreign policy official Josep Borrell stressed the need to avoid regional escalation, while Hezbollah announced the implementation of an “initial response” to the assassination of Saleh Al-Arouri, deputy head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), in the southern suburb of Beirut.
Borrell said after his meeting with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib that he saw “a worrying intense exchange of fire across the Blue Line,” referring to the line dividing Lebanon and Israel.
The European official stated that he told Israel that “no one will win if a regional conflict breaks out,” stressing the need to avoid dragging Lebanon into such a conflict.
For his part, the Lebanese Prime Minister said, “We are peace seekers, not warmongers… and we are making the necessary contacts in this regard, because any large-scale bombing in southern Lebanon will lead the region to a comprehensive explosion.”
Mikati called to “stop Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty and withdraw from Lebanese territory,” stressing his country’s commitment to implementing UN Security Council Resolution No. 1701.
In the same context, the Lebanese Foreign Minister stated that he discussed with Borrell the implementation of Resolution 1701, which was issued by the Security Council in August 2006 and related to arrangements to stop the fighting between Lebanon and Israel.
On the other hand, Lebanese Hezbollah announced Saturday morning that it had fired more than 60 missiles toward an Israeli “air control base,” in response to the assassination of Saleh Al-Arouri.
The party explained in a statement that its fighters targeted the Meron air control base with 62 missiles of various types “as part of the initial response to the assassination of the great leader Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri and his brothers, the martyrs, in the southern suburb of Beirut.”
The statement added that the missiles “caused direct and confirmed hits” at the base. The base is located on top of Mount Jarmaq, and includes a military facility that handles surveillance operations for the Israeli Air Force.
Al-Arouri was martyred last Tuesday along with 6 Hamas members, including two commanders in the Al-Qassam Brigades, the movement’s military wing, in an air strike that targeted the movement’s office in the southern suburb of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, in the first attack of its kind in the Lebanese capital since the start of the war on Gaza.