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France’s foreign minister will travel to Lebanon on Sunday, his ministry said, amid spiralling fears that the region could be headed toward an all-out war.
Jean-Noel Barrot will take off from Paris shortly, to land in Lebanon on Sunday evening to “exchange with the local authorities and bring French support, especially humanitarian”, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The trip comes as Israel continues a campaign of air strikes in Lebanon targeting Iran-backed group Hezbollah.
On Saturday Barrot spoke with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, saying Paris was calling for “an immediate halt to Israeli strikes in Lebanon” and was “opposed to any ground operation”, according to the foreign ministry.
France also “calls on other actors, notably Hezbollah and Iran, to abstain from any action that could lead to additional destabilisation and regional conflagration”, it said on Saturday.
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