BEIRUT: U.S. and French diplomats expressed concern over an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel following remarks made by party Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah, a report said.
An-Nahar Saturday said that members of the Lebanese government received calls from U.S. and French diplomats who were unnerved by Nasrallah's speech, in which he warned that Hezbollah was prepared to respond to any Israeli attack.
Nasrallah warned Friday that his group would respond to any Israeli attack at any time and in any place. He also said that the Israeli airstrike that killed six Hezbollah fighters and a top Iranian general in Syria’s Golan Heights this month had shattered the rules of engagement that had governed the military confrontation between Hezbollah and Israel in south Lebanon in the past.
The unidentified diplomats, who feared further escalation as a result of Friday’s fiery speech, said that Nasrallah should have echoed the moderate stance of Prime Minister’s Tammam Salam instead.
During Thursday’s Cabinet session, Salam urged all parties to avoid any escalation. “Don’t give Israel any chance to drag us in to war,” he was quoted as saying.
Salam also voiced Lebanon’s commitment to U.N. resolution 1701 that ended the 2006 war between Lebanon and Israel, as well as the presence of UNIFIL peacekeepers along its southern border.
A Hezbollah attack wednesday killed two Israeli soldiers in the Shebaa Farms in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike that killed six party fighters and a top Iranian general in Syria's Golan Heights on Jan. 18.
Hezbollah's Wednesday attack involving a salvo of anti-tank missiles on an Israeli military convoy was answered by artillery fire from the Israelis, which killed a Spanish UNIFIL peacekeeper.
Spain and Israel have agreed to a joint investigation to look into his death.
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