Lebanese Energy Minister Joe Saddi confirmed his country has asked for direct talks with Israel, through a US intermediary, to try to put an end to an Israeli offensive that has cost close to 500 lives and displaced some 700,000 people along the border.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called earlier this week for a ceasefire to stop hostilities by land and air, and said his country was being forced into a fatal choice of direct military confrontation with Israeli or risk turning Lebanon into another Gaza.