Mikati: Targeting Dahiyeh proves Israel is pursuing what resembles “genocide”

Beirut – Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati confirmed on Friday that Israel’s targeting of Beirut’s southern suburbs once again proves once again that it “does not give weight to any humanitarian, legal or moral considerations,” and considered that it is “continuing in what resembles genocide.”

This came in statements made by Mikati while chairing a cabinet session on Friday afternoon, at the government headquarters in the capital, Beirut, according to a statement from his media office.

Earlier on Friday, an Israeli drone launched an airstrike on a residential apartment in the Jamous area in the southern suburbs of Beirut, killing 8 people and wounding 59, according to a preliminary tally from the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Army Radio quoted an unnamed security official as saying that the aim of the raid was to assassinate Ibrahim Aqil, head of the operations department of the factions movement.

Commenting on this, Lebanese Minister of Information Ziad Makari said after the session that Mikati was informed during the government session of “the news of the new Israeli aggression on the southern suburbs of Beirut,” according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s media office.

Mikati was quoted as saying, “This targeting of a populated residential area proves once again that the Israeli enemy does not give weight to any humanitarian, legal, or moral consideration.”

Mikati added, “The Israeli enemy is continuing what resembles genocide, and we witnessed its most horrific images in the aggression that took place on Tuesday and Wednesday, which claimed dozens of martyrs and thousands of wounded.”

He stressed that “this new aggression came as a result of the global conscience and the international community’s silence on the violation of human rights, justice and laws.”

At the beginning of the government session, according to the same statement, Mikati condemned the wave of widespread bombings that targeted wireless communication devices across Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday, which resulted in the death of 37 people and the injury of more than 3,250 others, including children and women.

Mikati said, “The unprecedented security earthquake in the logic of wars that Lebanon was exposed to this week (…) is a shameful and condemnable criminal act, and is similar to a horrific genocide and massacre.”

He added: “We are raising this issue to the international community and the human conscience,” calling for “taking a clear position on these horrific massacres.”

He pointed out that Lebanon requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council today in order to carry out its responsibilities towards Lebanon.

While the Lebanese government and the Lebanese factions movement held Israel responsible for these wireless communications device explosions, and the party threatened it with “severe punishment,” Tel Aviv maintains official silence on the matter.

This comes as the White House said in a statement on Friday that Washington “did not receive” prior notification from Israel regarding the raid on the southern suburbs of Beirut.

The White House added: “We still believe that a diplomatic solution in the Middle East is the best path,” advising Americans “not to travel to Lebanon.”

This is the third attack launched by Israel on the southern suburb of Beirut, the main stronghold of the Lebanese factions in Lebanon, since the start of the current wave of mutual clashes nearly a year ago.

On January 2, 2024, it assassinated the deputy head of the political bureau of the Palestinian factions movement, Saleh al-Arouri, and on July 30, it assassinated the prominent leader of the Lebanese factions, Fouad Shukr.

The attack comes amid a “new wave” of Israeli escalation against Lebanon, as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant announced on Thursday evening that the war with the Lebanese factions had entered a new phase.

The features of this escalation were apparently represented by the bombing of communications devices, the escalation of air raids on southern Lebanon and other towns in the interior, and finally the targeting of the southern suburbs of Beirut again.

The political leadership in Israel is facing internal pressures due to the delay in returning the northern settlers to their homes safely, which prompted it a few days ago to put this matter on the list of war goals.

While the Secretary-General of the Lebanese factions confirms that the only way to return the settlers of the north is to stop the war on Gaza.

According to Hebrew media, about 120,000 Israelis have been evacuated from the north and south since the beginning of the war on Gaza to hotels in various parts of Israel.

Since October 8, Lebanese and Palestinian factions in Lebanon, most notably the Lebanese factions, have been exchanging daily shelling with the Israeli army across the “Blue Line” separating them, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries, most of them on the Lebanese side.

These factions demand an end to the war waged by Israel with American support on the Gaza Strip since October 7, which has left more than 136,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and deadly famine.

Anatolia