British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Defense Secretary John Healey meet with Najib Mikati at the Grand Serail on Aug. 1, 2024. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Defense Secretary John Healey arrived in Beirut on Thursday amid concerns of escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, following a deadly strike in the Golan Heights over the weekend and a subsequent Israeli strike on Lebanon's capital, according to the state-run National News Agency.
Lammy and Healey met with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain al-Tineh. Additionally, caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib also met with the officials.
During their meeting with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the premier told the British officials that "Israel violated Lebanese sovereignty and attacked our land in violation of international laws while it blatantly attacks civilians daily."
"The solution will only be political through the implementation of international resolutions, including Resolution 1701," Mikati said, calling on Britain and the international community to "pressure Israel to stop its aggression."
Lammy called on "all parties to respect U.N. Resolution 1701 and implement all its provisions and clauses."
For his part, Healey praised "the partnership between the Lebanese and British armies," and called for "addressing all conflicts through dialogue and diplomatic methods."
Bou Habib also stressed "the importance of the full implementation of Resolution 1701 as the key to restoring calm to southern Lebanon."
He also warned of "the danger of sliding into a wider war if influential countries close to and friendly to Israel do not pressure it to reduce the escalation."
For his part, the British Foreign Secretary expressed "his doubts about the possibility of reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza and his concern that miscalculations by all parties could drag the region into further escalation."
Yesterday, Lammy and Healey were in Qatar, where they used their "first official joint visit to the region to progress efforts to end the conflict in Gaza and call for de-escalation in the wider region."
Israel attributed the deadly strike in the occupied Golan Heights to Hezbollah but the latter categorically denied any responsibility. Approximately 48 hours after the attack, which claimed at least 12 lives, foreign embassies in Lebanon have been increasingly updating their recommendations to their nationals, with the United Kingdom advising its citizens to leave the country as "the situation is evolving rapidly" and "the risk is high."
As a response to the Golan Heights attack, Israel killed Hezbollah's top military commander, Fouad Shukur in an airstrike on Tuesday in Haret Hreik, a southern suburb of Beirut. The strike killed 6 others, including children and an Iranian military advisor, and injured over 80 civilians. A few hours later, the head of the political bureau of the Palestinian movement Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an alleged Israeli strike, in Tehran, where he was attending the inauguration of the new Iranian president, Massoud Pezeshkian. This has caused further fears of a wider regional war.