Beyrut’ta diplomasi trafiği
MIDDLE EAST
Diplomacy traffic in Beirut
After Amos Hochstein, Senior Advisor to the US President, foreign ministers of France and Egypt visited Lebanon. The most important agenda of the visits is to limit the possible retaliation of Hezbollah to Israel.
After Israel killed Fuad Şükür, one of the senior commanders of the Hizbollah Movement on July 30, and the murder of Hamas leader Ismail Heniyye on July 31, the tension between Iran-Hezbollah and Tel Aviv evolved into the danger of a "total regional" war.
While the ceasefire negotiations are being revived to prevent Iran's retaliation for the Heniyye assassination of Israel, there is diplomatic traffic to prevent Hezbollah from retaliation.
It is thought that a possible ceasefire for Gaza will prevent Israel and Hezbollah from retaliation. In this context, in addition to the negotiations carried out in Doha, there is also diplomacy traffic in Lebanon. On August 14, Amos Hochstein, Senior Advisor to the President of the United States, and yesterday French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne held talks in Beirut. Today, the Egyptian Foreign Minister is in Lebanon.
According to the news of the Lebanese official agency NNA, French minister Sejourne met with Parliament Speaker Nebih Berri yesterday. In the statement published regarding the meeting, Sejourne's statements were included. Pointing to the high tension arising from the conflicts between Israel and Lebanon, Sejourne said, "My message is simple; We emphasize the support given by France to Lebanon in this period when the regional situation is alarming."
Stating that their aim as France is to reduce tension at the regional level, Sejourne said, “This is the message I convey to the Lebanese officials (reduce the tension) and I will convey the same message to other countries in the region. We hope that the situation will calm down in this very sensitive process," he said.
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Berri also noted that Lebanon has the right to defend itself against Israel, which does not hesitate to attack even civilians, journalists and health workers, and that its country adheres to the rules of conflict engagement. Berri stated that Israel is especially targeting forest and agricultural areas in the south of Lebanon with the phosphorus bomb on the international banned weapons list.
On the other hand, Egypt's Foreign Minister Bedr Abdulati, who took part in the ceasefire negotiations in Gaza, held a press conference today after meeting with Parliament Speaker Berri in Beirut.
Noting that they stood by Lebanon and its people, which went through a difficult process, Abdulati said, "I conveyed the message to the Speaker of the Assembly that stability and security in Lebanon represent the interests of Arab and Egypt, and that Egypt is on the side of Lebanon."
'We are trying to prevent the region from being dragged into an total war and the escalation of tension,' the Egyptian Minister said.
Referring to the importance of a possible comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza, which is carried out between the mediator USA-Qatar and Egypt and Israel in Doha, Abdulati said, "We emphasize the urgent ceasefire in Gaza. Because the source of the conflicts in the region is the Palestinian problem, which continues unsolved," he said.
Second stop: Israel
French minister Sejourne visited Israel with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy after his contacts in Lebanon.
In the statement made by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, it was stated that Foreign Minister Israel Katz will meet with Lammy and Sejourne in a trilateral meeting. During the meeting, it was stated that efforts to prevent tensions in the Middle East will be discussed.
Hezbollah allegedly postponed the retaliation it announced to Israel in order not to sabotage the ongoing negotiations in Qatar. It was claimed that the Qatari Prime Minister, who asked the Iranian officials to suspend the expected attack on Israel while the negotiations were continuing, also approached this positively. However, Israel continues its massacres in Gaza without interruption. Moreover, he is preparing for new attacks.
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdurrahman Al-Sani asked his Iranian interlocutors to suspend their expected retaliation against Israel while there was progress in the negotiations, after the first-day session of the ceasefire talks.
According to a statement from the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, El-Sani met with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bakiri. According to the statement, the ministers emphasized the 'need to maintain calm and reduce tension in the region'. Ali Bakıri, who made a statement on the subject on his social media account, stated that El-Sani described the results of this stage of the negotiations as "sensitive". Bakiri noted that Israel emphasized that joint efforts should continue, including diplomatic attempts to stop the genocide crimes committed by Israel in Gaza.
According to the Ynet news site, which is published from Israel, based on the senior official of one of the mediator countries, Al Sani said to his Iranian interlocutors in the meeting, "While there is such progress, you need to think carefully whether it is appropriate for you or Hezbollah to attack Israel."
In the news, it was claimed that the phone call was effective and that Hezbollah postponed the decision to attack Israel, which he had previously taken, for now.
On the other hand, according to another report in the Washington Post, Hezbollah will not retaliate against Israel while the negotiations are continuing.
A source close to Hezbollah said, “We can say that Hezbollah will not launch the retaliatory operation during the Qatar talks because he does not want to be held responsible for preventing a possible agreement. Retaliation can wait; it is not urgent or there is no time limit," he said.
Those who demand Iran and Hezbollah to suspend their attacks on the grounds that they will harm the negotiations do not say a word about Israel's ongoing attacks in Gaza. While the Israeli administration was serving news that the negotiations were positive, it announced that it would launch a new attack on some parts of the Mevasi region, where 1 million people took shelter in Gaza.
Shortly after the announcement of the Palestinians to evacuate the area, the Israeli army bombed the tent where the displaced Palestinians took refuge in the El-Mevasi region, before it was time for people to leave the region. 4 Palestinians, one woman and 3 children, lost their lives in the attack.