US special envoy Amos Hochstein is expected to arrive in Beirut on Wednesday after holding talks in Israel aimed at easing the soaring tensions in the region.
Tensions have skyrocketed after Israel’s assassination of Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and top Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut last month. Iran-backed Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate, threatening to lead the region to full-scale war.
Lebanese officials confirmed that Hochstein had requested urgent meetings with parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
A senior Lebanese official told Asharq Al-Awsat the envoy is seeking to calm the situation, while possibly relaying Israeli messages or proposals.
Meanwhile, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy telephoned Mikati on Tuesday to urge calm and demand an “immediate” end to the fighting.
He stressed the need for all parties to calm the situation urgently and immediately.
Mikati, for his part, expressed his gratitude to Britain’s “constant” keenness on Lebanon’s stability.
On Tuesday, the PM held a series of meetings at the Grand Serail to follow up on emergency plans should a wide-scale war erupt between Hezbollah and Israel.
A statement from his office said: “The main concern that is uniting all the Lebanese people is confronting the Israeli threats and ongoing attacks against Lebanon.”
He underlined the need for the international community and international organizations to perform their duties towards Lebanon and support it during these difficult times, especially since the country is already overwhelmed by the burden of Syrian refugees.
“The Israeli aggression and threats must act as added incentive for the Lebanese to unite and to refrain from side quarrels,” he urged.
MP Wael Abou Faour also met with Mikati. He said Lebanon is holding a series of political and diplomatic contacts aimed at averting the war.
At the end of the day, the solution lies in a ceasefire in Gaza, he noted.
Meanwhile, the Kataeb party politburo criticized on Tuesday the “government’s rush to cover the hefty cost of the displacement of tens of thousands of residents from the South and its blunt announcement that the international community was not being receptive to its demands for more funds to cover the potential losses.”
“This leads to a very obvious question: Wouldn’t it have been better for this government to have taken the initiative in the first place and prevent Lebanon from being dragged into a futile war, instead of lamenting the situation and pleading for help from all directions?” it added.
“Hezbollah is primarily responsible for the current situation,” it stressed, while criticizing the government for initially “yielding to pressure from the party and relinquishing its decision-making power and sovereignty of the state, and agreed to become a front for an armed militia that boasts of making plans and carrying them out to serve its interests and Iran, dragging Lebanon and the Lebanese towards the unknown.”
