Lebanon Holds Emergency Meeting After Israel's Big Attack

Israeli attacks on Lebanon. (ANTARA/Anadolu/PY)

JAKARTA - Lebanese interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he would hold an emergency meeting of the ministerial committee on Sunday to discuss the situation after Israel's massive airstrike which Tel Aviv called a deterrent strike.

In a statement, Mikati announced that the meeting would be held at her home in Beirut on Sunday at 09:30 (07.30 GMT).

The invitation was addressed to all ministers who were willing to attend to consult further on the latest developments.

On Sunday morning local time, Israeli warplanes launched more than 40 airstrikes in southern Lebanon that have been the worst attack since the conflict began on October 8, 2023.

Israeli soldiers called the attack a preemptive and claimed to have stopped Hezbollah's attack that would have taken place before the attack was launched.

In response, Hezbollah reported launching 320 rockets against Israeli military targets as the initial phase of Hezbollah's response to the assassination of its commander, Fouad Shukr, by Israel in July.

Since October 8, 2023, Lebanon's Hezbollah has been involved in daily firefights with Israeli soldiers along the Blue Line which resulted in hundreds of casualties and most of them on the part of Lebanon.

Tensions have risen amid the Gaza war, where Israel has killed more than 40,300 Palestinians since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. The military campaign has devastated much of Gaza's territory and left most Palestinians homeless, starving and susceptible to disease.