France has expressed concern of an escalation in tensions in the Middle East after a second round communications devices used by the militant group Hezbollah exploded in Lebanon Wednesday, killing at least 20 people.
Hand-held radio devices used by the Iran-backed Hezbollah exploded across southern Lebanon Wednesday, a day after similar explosions of the group’s pagers, in an attack that the militant group blamed on Israel, but which Israel did not comment on.
Lebanon's health ministry said Wednesday’s walkie-talkie explosions killed 20 people and injured more than 450 in Beirut's suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, while the death toll from Tuesday's explosions rose to 12, including two children, with nearly 3,000 injured.
“France expresses its concern that recent security development in Lebanon will contribute to a dangerous escalation of tension in the region,” the French Foreign Ministry said Wednesday in a statement.
Adding that it had “taken note of recent declarations from Israeli officials on military operations in Lebanon and has asked them to show the greatest restraint”, it also recalled its demand for Hezbollah to “immediately cease attacks against Israeli territory”.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, condemned the pager explosions for killing and wounding civilians, and expressed concerns about an escalation of conflict in the region.
“I can only condemn these attacks that endanger the security and stability of Lebanon, and increase the risk of escalation in the region,” Borrell said in a statement after he met with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib Wednesday, and appealed on behalf of the EU for “all stakeholders to avert an all-out war”.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that the pager blasts indicate "a serious risk of a dramatic escalation in Lebanon and everything must be done to avoid that escalation".
"Obviously the logic of making all these devices explode is to do it as a pre-emptive strike before a major military operation," he told reporters.
The UN Security Council will meet Friday to discuss the explosions, at the request of Algeria on behalf of Arab states.
(with Reuters)
