Lebanese PM urges more UN measures to stop Israel's targeting of civilians

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has denounced Israeli strikes on civilians in the southern part of the Arab country, urging the UN Security Council to take more effective and decisive measures to stop the acts of aggression.

“The Security Council's response must be swift and strong,” Mikati said during a meeting with Western ambassadors and representatives of international organizations in Beirut on Monday to address the ongoing Israeli atrocities.

The Lebanese premier also thanked the Security Council for its support for renewing the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and its continued commitment to stability in Lebanon.

He called on the Security Council to “assume its responsibility in preserving international law and security by holding accountable those responsible for targeting Lebanese civilians.”

Three Lebanese civil defense members killed in Israeli attack

Lebanon’s health ministry says three emergency personnel have been killed and two others were wounded in an Israeli attack on a civil defense team putting out fires in southern Lebanon.

Mikati's remarks came after Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said three emergency responders were killed and two others wounded, one of them critically, in an Israeli strike on the southern village of Froun on Saturday.

The ministry said the attack had targeted “a Lebanese civil defense team that was putting out fires sparked by the recent Israeli strikes.”

For his part, Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Rashid Bou Habib stated that all ambassadors reiterated their support for the safety of ordinary people and the Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in times of war.

"We, as a government, want a ceasefire and an end to the war, and we have informed most of those concerned of our readiness to conduct indirect negotiations with Israel for that purpose," Bou Habib said.

The Israeli regime has repeatedly attacked southern Lebanon since October 7 last year, when it launched a genocidal war on Gaza that has killed at least 40,939 Palestinians, most of them women and children, so far. Another 94,616 individuals have also been injured in the onslaught.

In retaliation, Hezbollah has launched near-daily rocket attacks on Israeli positions.

Some 614 people have been killed on the Lebanese border, including at least 138 civilians, according to an AFP tally. Israel says at least 24 soldiers and 26 settlers have been killed in the area.

The fighting has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands from the northern part of the occupied territories, amid rocket fire and shelling carried out by Hezbollah and allied Palestinian groups.

Hezbollah has already fought off two Israeli wars against Lebanon in 2000 and 2006. The resistance forced the regime to retreat in both conflicts.

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