BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati cancelled his trip to the United Nations’ General Assembly in New York after Israel strikes on Beirut’s suburb killed at least 37.
In a statement, he said the trip was part of the “intensification of Lebanese diplomatic action to stop the prolonged Israeli aggression against Lebanon.”
“However, in light of developments related to the Israeli aggression, I decided to refrain from traveling,” he said in a statement published in the state-run news agency NNA.
Mikati urged the international community to stop Israel’s massacres and called for the adoption of international laws to protect civilians “from being military and war targets.”
Israel’s attack on Beirut, targeting Hezbollah commanders, killed 16 members including senior leader Ibrahim Aqil and another commander, Ahmed Wahbi, in the deadliest strike in nearly a year of conflict with Israel.
The strike sharply escalated the conflict and inflicted another blow on Hezbollah after two days of attacks in which pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded.
The attacks on communications devices were widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.
Cross-border strikes continued as Israeli warplanes carried out the heaviest bombardment in 11 months of fighting across Lebanon’s south, and Hezbollah claimed rocket attacks on military targets in Israel’s north.
The Israeli army said it hit around 180 targets, destroying thousands of rocket launch barrels.
