Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Saturday he will not go to New York to attend the UN General Assembly because of the ongoing acts of violence with Israel.
Mikati’s office said the prime minister was scheduled to give Lebanon’s speech later this month at the United Nations but now he will discuss Lebanon’s diplomatic moves with Foreign Minster Abdallah Bou Habib who is currently in New York.
“There is no priority at the present time than stopping the massacres committed by the Israeli enemy,” Mikati was quoted as saying, a day after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut killed 37 people and wounded 68.
Mikati said he calls for drafting international laws that prevent the use of civilian technological devices for military purposes.
Mikati’s comments came days after thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies exploded in different parts of Lebanon, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000 members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group. Israel was blamed for the attack.