Lebanon PM to Asharq Al-Awsat: No Other Path Except Ceasefire, Negotiations

 Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot in Beirut on September 30, 2024. (AFP)
Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot in Beirut on September 30, 2024. (AFP)
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Lebanon PM to Asharq Al-Awsat: No Other Path Except Ceasefire, Negotiations

 Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot in Beirut on September 30, 2024. (AFP)
Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot in Beirut on September 30, 2024. (AFP)

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati stressed on Monday that his country is committed to a reaching a ceasefire and launching indirect negotiations that would end the fierce Israeli war on Lebanon and its people.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat after meeting with visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and later holding talks with parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, he said: “Lebanon vows to send the army to the South after a ceasefire and the launch of negotiations.”

“We have no other substitute to this call that was issued by ten influential countries, led by the United States and France,” he added.

“It is now on the international community. The credibility of these countries, especially the US, is now on the line, because if they can’t stop this barbaric war, then I don’t believe anyone can,” Mikati said.

Moreover, he remarked that his comments after meeting Berri reflect the “unity of the Lebanese position,” saying he used the word “vow” to underscore the strength of this stance.

“This is the only path forward and there can be no substitute for it except the continuation of the war, whose end no one can predict,” he went on to say.



Three People Killed in Israeli Airstrike on Damascus

A car drives past a Syrian flag flying at half mast during national mourning after Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Friday, in Damascus, Syria, September 29, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
A car drives past a Syrian flag flying at half mast during national mourning after Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Friday, in Damascus, Syria, September 29, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
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Three People Killed in Israeli Airstrike on Damascus

A car drives past a Syrian flag flying at half mast during national mourning after Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Friday, in Damascus, Syria, September 29, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
A car drives past a Syrian flag flying at half mast during national mourning after Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Friday, in Damascus, Syria, September 29, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi

Three civilians were killed and nine others injured in an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian capital Damascus, Syrian state media said early on Tuesday citing a military source.

Syrian state television earlier said that one of its presenters was killed in an Israeli strike on Damascus. It was unclear whether the presenter was among the three civilians mentioned by state media.

The Israeli air attack also caused a significant damage to private property, state media added.

Syrian air defenses intercepted "hostile targets" over the vicinity of Damascus three times in a row in one night, following explosions that were heard in the capital, state media said earlier on Tuesday.

When asked about the reported attack, the Israeli military said it does not comment on foreign media reports.