Israel asks France to intervene by exercising its influence on Lebanon to prevent the outbreak of a military confrontation with Hezbollah

On Wednesday, Israel asked France to intervene by exercising its influence on Lebanon to prevent the outbreak of a military confrontation with Hezbollah.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said, in a statement that the request came during a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in Paris with his French counterpart, Catherine Colonna.

The statement quoted Cohen as saying, “The provocation of the Hezbollah terrorist organization on the Lebanese borders could turn into a military confrontation,” as he put it.

He added, “I asked my friend, Foreign Minister Colonna, to exercise France’s influence in Lebanon to help resolve tensions effectively and quickly”.

He continued, “Fighting the Iranian threat requires the entire international community to move now, and the meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors in September is the appropriate stage to address Iranian violations in the nuclear field”.

The Israeli foreign minister considered that diplomatic and security relations between Israel and France are of great importance to both countries and to regional stability.

He added that France is a strategic ally of the State of Israel, which can play a central role in expanding the Abraham Accords (normalization with Arab countries) and adding more countries in Africa and the Middle East to the circle of peace.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry indicated that during the meeting, the two sides discussed regional security issues, foremost of which is the attempt to resolve tensions with the Hezbollah organization on the northern borders and the fight against the Iranian nuclear program.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Lebanese army said in a statement that an Israeli patrol fired two smoke bombs towards a border area while it was on a military patrol, without causing any injuries.

The border area between Lebanon and Israel has witnessed security tension in recent days, due to attempts by Israeli forces to level land and build a concrete wall in the area, which the Lebanese side rejects because the area occupied by Israel.

At the beginning of this month, a number of Lebanese residents and protesters removed a barbed wire placed by the Israeli army at the outskirts of the border town of Kafr Shuba, which led to great alert on both sides, while UNIFIL forces intervened and worked to calm the situation.