Mikati Holds Talks with World Leaders in Scotland on Ways to Resolve Lebanon’s Crisis with Gulf

Mikati meets with French President Macron in Glasgow on Monday. (Reuters)
Mikati meets with French President Macron in Glasgow on Monday. (Reuters)
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Mikati Holds Talks with World Leaders in Scotland on Ways to Resolve Lebanon’s Crisis with Gulf

Mikati meets with French President Macron in Glasgow on Monday. (Reuters)
Mikati meets with French President Macron in Glasgow on Monday. (Reuters)

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati held talks in Glasgow on Monday with various world leaders on ways to resolve Beirut’s dispute with the Gulf in wake of Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi’s offensive remarks against Saudi Arabia.

Mikati, who was taking part in the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, met with French President Emmanuel Macron, Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and acting German Chancellor Angela Merkel

The PM held a series of meetings with Arab and international leaders on the situation in Lebanon, ways to support it and end its current crisis, said a statement from his press office.

Mikati also met with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who informed him he will dispatch his foreign minister to Beirut to address pending issues and the Gulf dispute.

Mikati also met with his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Sabah Khalid al-Hamad Al Sabah. Talks focused on “Lebanon’s keenness on the close relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council and efforts to address any problem through the spirit of fraternity and cooperation.”

Sheikh Khalid informed Mikati of Kuwait’s keenness on Lebanon and its constant efforts to support it in all fields. “At the same time, it is also keen on the unity of the GCC state,” he added, according to Mikati’s office.

“Lebanon can address any problem and it will find all the necessary support from Kuwait and other Arab countries,” he stressed.

Mikati held talks with European Council President Charles Michel on ways the bloc can support Lebanon. He met with International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva, who informed him that the organization was determined to help Lebanon resolve its current crisis.



Building in Beirut Southern Suburbs Struck After Israeli Warning

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Building in Beirut Southern Suburbs Struck After Israeli Warning

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A building in Beirut’s southern suburbs known as Dahieh was struck on Sunday almost an hour after the Israeli army issued an evacuation order to residents of the area.

The Israeli army's spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, earlier said on X that residents should evacuate several buildings in the Hadath neighborhood and move "at least 300 meters away.”

Residents reported hearing gunfire across the area, which they said they believed was intended to warn people to leave, as well as seeing a massive traffic jam on roads leading from the area.

"To everyone located in the building marked in red on the attached map, and the surrounding buildings: you are near facilities belonging to Hezbollah," Adraee wrote in a post that included a map of the potential targets.

The Israeli army said the building was being used to store precision missiles belonging to Hezbollah.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Hezbollah's precision missiles "posed a significant threat to the State of Israel."

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on the United States and France, as guarantors of the ceasefire agreement struck in November, to compel Israel to stop its attacks.
"Israel's continued actions in undermining stability will exacerbate tensions and place the region at real risk, threatening its security and stability," he said in a statement.

Earlier this month an Israeli airstrike killed four people, including a Hezbollah official, in Beirut's southern suburbs -the second Israeli strike on a Hezbollah-controlled area of the Lebanese capital in five days.