Caretaker Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib. (Credit: NNA)
Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib arrived in New York on Tuesday to participate in an open meeting on the Middle East scheduled for Wednesday at the U.N. Security Council, chaired by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. During the meeting, he will deliver a speech on behalf of Lebanon.
Bou Habib, who initially visited Washington, held a series of meetings with his counterparts from Kuwait, Bahrain, and Armenia. He also met with the Permanent Representatives of the United States, France, China, and the United Kingdom at the U.N., and was scheduled to meet on Wednesday with his Russian and Iranian counterparts, as reported by the state-run National News Agency.
During these meetings, Bou Habib emphasized "the need for de-escalation in the region and in southern Lebanon, and the importance of fully implementing Resolution 1701," which was adopted to end the July 2006 war. He also warned against "disastrous repercussions in the event of an escalation or Israeli incursion into Lebanon," while calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and southern Lebanon.
Bou Habib also discussed the issue of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, stressing "the necessity of finding permanent solutions to enable Syrians to return home and benefit from aid in Syria." He proposed "a project allowing a group of displaced individuals to return to a cluster of villages in Syria (...) as well as easing the impact of the Caesar Act, which sanctions any government, entity, or individual dealing with the Bashar al-Assad regime."
