Najib Mikati Says Lebanon is Ready to Hold Talks Regarding Long-term Border Stability
JAKARTA - Lebanon's interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati said his country was ready to hold talks regarding long-term stability on its southern border with Israel, while speaking with a senior UN official.
PM Mikati's office said in a statement he met with UN Deputy Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix in Beirut, reaffirming Lebanon's "readiness to enter negotiations to achieve a long-term stability process in southern Lebanon", which borders Israel.
"We sought permanent stability and called for a lasting peaceful solution – but in return we received warnings through international envoys about war on Lebanon," said PM Mikati, as reported by Reuters, January 10.
"The position I reiterate to these delegates is: Do you support the idea of destruction? Is what is happening in Gaza acceptable?" he continued.
However, PM Mikati's statement did not specify the type of negotiations Lebanon would undertake, including whether the negotiations would be direct or mediated.
It is known that the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has exchanged fire with the Israeli military on Lebanon's southern border, since Hamas militants attacked Israel's southern region last October 7.
Escalating violence on the border has forced tens of thousands of people to flee from both sides, raising fears the conflict will escalate.
Israel said it was giving diplomacy a chance to prevent Hezbollah from shelling people living in the north and to drive Hezbollah from the border, warning its army it would take action to achieve that goal.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah says it does not want a full-scale war, but will not hold back if Israel starts one.
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Last year, US envoy Amos Hochstein floated the possibility of talks on drawing a land border between Israel and Lebanon, after brokering a 2022 deal establishing a maritime border between the two countries.
The current demarcation line between the two countries is known as the Blue Line, a UN-mapped border that marks the withdrawal line for Israeli troops when they left southern Lebanon in 2000.