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Iran Says it Won’t Remain Indifferent in Case of Full-Scale War in Lebanon.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday the region is on the brink of a full-scale catastrophe due to escalating tensions between Israel and Hamas and warned that Tehran would not remain indifferent in case of war in Lebanon.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Araqchi said Israel had crossed “all red lines” and that the UN Security Council must intervene to restore peace and stability.
Israel widened its airstrikes in Lebanon on Wednesday and at least 72 people were killed, according to a Reuters compilation of Lebanese health ministry statements. The ministry earlier said at least 223 were wounded.
Israel’s military chief said a ground assault was possible, raising fears the conflict could spark a wider Middle East war.
A senior White House official said that over the last several months, Washington has been engaging with officials in Israel and Lebanon to reduce hostilities.
As many as half a million people may have been displaced in Lebanon, its foreign minister said. In Beirut, thousands of people displaced from southern Lebanon were sheltering in schools and other buildings.
Israeli airstrikes this week have targeted Hezbollah leaders and hit hundreds of sites deep inside Lebanon, where hundreds of thousands have fled the border region, while the group has fired barrages of rockets into Israel.
Israel said its warplanes were hitting south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold further north, and that it was calling up two more reserve brigades for operations on Israel’s northern border.
Israel has made a priority of securing its northern border and allowing the return there of some 70,000 residents displaced by near-daily exchanges of fire since war broke out in October between Israel and Hamas in Gaza on Israel’s southern border.
Lebanese hospitals have been filled with the wounded since Monday, when Israeli bombing killed more than 550 people in Lebanon’s deadliest day since its civil war ended in 1990.
