Jordan’s FM Slams Israel for Pushing Middle East to ‘Abyss of Regional War’

A handout photo released by the Lebanese Government Press office shows Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (R) meeting with Jordan's Foreign Affairs Minister Ayman Safadi (L) in Beirut on October 7, 2024. (Lebanese Prime Minister's Press Office / AFP)

11:51-7 October 2024 AD ـ 04 Rabi’ Al-Thani 1446 AH

Jordan’s FM Slams Israel for Pushing Middle East to ‘Abyss of Regional War’

Jordan’s top diplomat on Monday slammed Israel’s war with the Hezbollah group in Lebanon, saying it is pushing the Middle East into the “abyss of full-scale regional war.”

“We are facing a disaster and a dangerous escalation that threatens the region,” Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi. “Israel bears responsibility of this aggression, the escalation in the region, and any new escalation that the region faces.”

He spoke in a news conference following a meeting with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut.

Safadi said that Jordan backs the Lebanese government’s initiative to elect a new president and commitment to implement the UN Security Council resolution that ended Israel’s last war with Hezbollah in 2006, and that would keep southern Lebanon exclusively under the control of the Lebanese military and UN peacekeepers.

He added that Jordan, like Lebanon, backed an initiative by the United States and France for a three-week ceasefire in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, as the region braces for an Israeli retaliation for Iran's missile attack, Safadi said Jordan rejects either country using its airspace in their tit-for-tat hostilities.

“We will not be a battlefield for anyone,” he said. “We made this message clear to Iran and to Israel as well.”

Arab World

Force Alone Will Not Lead to Israel’s Security, France Says

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot holds a press conference, on the first anniversary of the Hamas-led deadly October 7 attack on Israel, at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, October 7, 2024. (Reuters)

17:05-7 October 2024 AD ـ 04 Rabi’ Al-Thani 1446 AH

Force Alone Will Not Lead to Israel’s Security, France Says

Israel's security cannot be guaranteed with military force alone and will require a diplomatic solution, France's foreign minister said on Monday, and Paris would continue efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Speaking at the end of a four-day tour of the Middle East, Jean-Noel Barrot was in Israel on Monday to mark a year since Palestinian Hamas fighters crossed into Israel killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage back to Gaza.

The assault triggered an Israeli military campaign in Gaza that has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health ministry. The war has spread conflict across the region with Israel stepping up military operations over its northern border in Lebanon against Hezbollah, a Hamas ally.

"Force alone cannot guarantee the security of Israel, your security. Military success cannot be a substitute for a political perspective," Barrot told a news conference in Jerusalem.

"To bring the hostages home to their loved ones, to allow the displaced to return home in the north (of Israel), after a year of war, the time for diplomacy has come."

Barrot's arrival in Israel, where about 180,000 French citizens live, came at a tricky time in Franco-Israeli relations after President Emmanuel Macron was firmly rebuffed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the weekend.

Macron had called for a de facto arms embargo on Israel and, in a veiled attack on the US, said countries that both supplied weapons and called for a ceasefire where they were being used in conflict were being incoherent. French arms supplies to Israel are minimal.

Barrot reiterated that it was odd to call for a ceasefire while giving offensive weapons. He said that France, as a staunch defender of Israel's security, felt it was vital to be frank about the ongoing suffering of civilians in Gaza, but also the military operation now in southern Lebanon.

France worked with the United States in trying to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon at the end of September.

Diplomatic sources had at the time believed this had secured a temporary truce, a day before Israel heavily bombed Beirut's southern suburbs, killing longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

"We have a responsibility to act today to avoid Lebanon finding itself in a short horizon in a dramatic situation like Syria found itself a few years ago," Barrot said.

Ceasefire proposals put forward together with Washington remain on the table, he said.

Jordan’s FM Slams Israel for Pushing Middle East to ‘Abyss of Regional War’

Jordan’s FM Slams Israel for Pushing Middle East to ‘Abyss of Regional War’

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Force Alone Will Not Lead to Israel’s Security, France Says

Force Alone Will Not Lead to Israel’s Security, France Says

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