Blinken shares 'deep concern' about Lebanon-Israel border tension in meeting with Mikati

US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, expressed his "deep concern" about the Lebanon-Israel border tension during his meeting with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Amman. Iran backed terror group Hezbollah and Israeli soldiers have been exchanging intense cross-fire along Lebanon's southern border with Israel since the latter launched a ground incursion against the Palestinian terror group Hamas.

During the meeting with Lebanon's Mikati, Blinken "thanked him for his leadership in preventing Lebanon from being pulled into a war that the Lebanese people do not want." Blinken also hailed Lebanon's efforts with regional partners "to pursue durable and sustainable peace in the region,” State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said in a statement.

“The Secretary discussed US efforts to secure humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza and noted that Lebanon needs to select a President to lead the country through both the regional and domestic crises," the latter added.

Hezbollah chief warns of wider conflict in the Middle East

Iran backed terror faction, Hezbollah’s Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah earlier yesterday made the first-ever fiery speech in Lebanon since the Israel-Hamas war started on October 7. Addressing residents in southern Beirut via video link from an undisclosed location, the terror group's chief falsely claimed that the Israeli civilians during the  October 7 rampage were killed by Israeli forces and not the Palestinian terror faction Hamas.

While threatening that the war against Hamas by IDF will spill into a wider conflict in the Middle East, Hezbollah’s Secretary General termed Israel “as fragile as a spider web,” and justified strikes on the US troops in the region, adding that his armed men will rigorously increase the strike on the Americans. “Israel falsely claimed Hamas beheaded babies, but failed to produce any evidence — despite providing gruesome visual evidence that they did — whereas the whole world has seen images of Palestinian children bombed in Gaza,” he said.

The Iran funded terrorist organization Hezbollah has been waging a battle on the second front with the Israeli forces . Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned that Lebanon entering in a direct war with Israel would result in Lebanon returning “to the stone age.” “Do not make a mistake. We do not want a war. But we are prepared to protect our civilians, our soldiers and our sovereignty,” Gallant said in a video statement.

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Mikati, said that time is of the essence in order to prevent the Hamas-Israel war from “going out of control” and spilling in the neighbouring Lebanon as well as the wider region. He reiterated that he is “doing my duty to prevent Lebanon from entering the war” and hostilities from further expanding into the South. “Lebanon is in the eye of the storm,” he said, reportedly. Mikati emphasised that he “cannot rule out an escalation because there is a race to reach a ceasefire before escalation spreads in the entire region.”