BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he was deeply concerned about an outbreak of violence at the country’s border with Israel in the past few days and that Beirut would file an urgent complaint with the U.N. Security Council.
The outbreak of violence along the border, the most deadly between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel since a 2006 war, occurred after Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israel at the weekend and Israel unleashed a bombing campaign against Gaza.
Mired in one of the world’s most acute economic crises that has impoverished much of the population and crippled the state, Lebanon can ill-afford a new war.
“Lebanon is in the eye of the storm,” Mikati said on Thursday during a televised address following a session of the country’s caretaker cabinet that was dedicated to security issues.
He blamed the cross-border violence, which has also seen attacks mounted on Israel that were claimed by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, on “repeated Israeli provocations” and violations of Lebanese sovereignty.
Lebanese in towns along the border said the violence has brought back memories of the summer of 2006, when Hezbollah and Israel fought a brutal month-long war.
Mikati’s government is backed by Hezbollah and mainly composed of Lebanese parties allied with the group.
(Reporting by Timour Azhari in Beirut; Writing by Timour Azhari and Enas Alashray; editing by Mark Heinrich and Grant McCool)
