In an urgent phone call, the Lebanese president asked French President Emmanuel Macron for immediate diplomatic intervention to prevent Israel from bombing the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Lebanese President Joseph Awn asked French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday to use his influence to prevent Israel from attacking the southern suburbs of Beirut, Le Monde website reported.
- Lebanese President Joseph Awn asked Emmanuel Macron to stop the Israeli attacks.
- For the first time, the Israeli army ordered the mass evacuation of the southern neighborhoods of Beirut.
- A call to evacuate indicates imminent intense attacks on the area.
- Since Monday, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed 102 people and injured hundreds.
- The mass evacuation caused panic, a traffic collapse and a desperate search for shelter by residents.
Awn spoke to Macron on the phone on Thursday after the Israeli military called on residents of the capital’s southern suburbs to evacuate and ordered them to move to the north and east of Beirut. It is the first time Israel has issued a warning covering entire neighborhoods in an area described as one of the strongholds of the pro-Iranian Shiite movement Hezbollah. A challenge of this kind usually means that the Israeli army will launch an attack on the location in a short period of time.
Lebanon’s president asks Macron for help
In an interview with the head of the Elysee Palace, the Lebanese president called for efforts to declare a ceasefire as soon as possible. He argued that 102 people have been killed and 638 injured in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon since Monday, when the country was embroiled in a regional war.
On Thursday, Macron also spoke on the phone with the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabím Barri. The interview mainly concerned the latest developments in the southern suburbs of Beirut and the evacuation of its residents. According to Barri, this situation represents “a real danger for Lebanon.” Barrí reported that he had discussed with Macron several proposals on how to end this crisis.
Panic on Lebanese roads
The French President expressed his readiness to establish the necessary contacts and send aid to Lebanon as soon as possible, where the Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces, General Fabien Mandon, arrived on Thursday.
The Lebanese media reported that the evacuation of the population from the southern suburbs of Beirut was accompanied by panic and chaos on the roads, on which long lines of cars were formed – about 700,000 people live in that part of the Lebanese metropolis. Some of them try to find refuge in the city center, others want to get to the countryside or even abroad. Some people have remained in their homes in the south of Beirut – either they do not have a car or they are taking care of immobile relatives, the newspaper “L’Orient-Le Jour” wrote on its website.
