Lebanon receives de-escalation guarantees from U.S.: PM

BEIRUT, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) — Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Tuesday that he received “a kind of guarantees” from the United States to reduce Israeli escalation in Beirut and its southern suburbs.
“In our contacts with the American authorities last week, we received a kind of guarantee to reduce the Israeli escalation in Beirut and its southern suburbs,” Mikati said, according to a statement released by his office.
Last week, the Lebanese Council of Ministers asked the UN Security Council to approve a ceasefire while affirming their full commitment to implementing Resolution 1701 and sending the army to the south to cooperate with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) forces there.
Adopted in 2006, the Resolution 1701 ended a 33-day war between Israel and Hezbollah. It called for a cessation of hostilities, Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, and bolstering the UNIFIL to monitor the ceasefire alongside the Lebanese army.
Mikati said that the army is prepared to strengthen its presence in the South with about 10,000 additional soldiers, but this needs a lot of equipment, which is a fundamental issue for implementing the resolution.
Mikati said there is no need to link this resolution to other resolutions, such as Resolution 1559, as it would create additional disagreements among different parties.
Adopted in 2004, Resolution 1559 calls for withdrawing foreign forces from Lebanon, disarming all militias, and extending government control over all Lebanese territory.
Since Sept. 23, the Israeli army has been launching an unprecedented, intensive airstrikes on Lebanon in a sharp escalation with Hezbollah.
The death toll from Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon since the beginning of the Hezbollah-Israeli conflict on Oct. 8, 2023, has reached 2,350, while injuries went up to 10,906, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry on Tuesday. ■