(28 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beirut, Lebanon – 28 April 2024
1. Wide of French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné at news conference
2. SOUNDBITE: (French) Stéphane Séjourné, French Foreign Minister:
“We refuse to accept the worst-case scenario. In southern Lebanon, the war is already here, even if it doesn’t say its name, and it’s the civilian population that’s paying the price. It’s in nobody’s interest for Israel, or Hezbollah for that matter, to continue this escalation. I have brought and carried this message here to Prime Minister Mikati, to the Speaker of Parliament and to the Army Chief of Staff, and I will also carry this same message to Israel on Tuesday."
3. Camera operator
4. SOUNDBITE: (French) Stéphane Séjourné, French Foreign Minister:
“First about the term escalation. I can tell you that it is here. Perhaps if there hadn’t been a conflict in Gaza, we might already be talking about a war in southern Lebanon, in view of all the impacts and shootings I’ve seen with UNIFIL. It a real subject.”
5. Séjourné in briefing
6. SOUNDBITE: (French) Stéphane Séjourné, French Foreign Minister:
"Without an elected president, without a full-fledged government, Lebanon won’t really be invited to the discussion table. The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, reiterated to the Prime Minister that we need a leap forward, a leap forward for good and France said in all seriousness, we will continue our efforts to ensure that Lebanon has a complete institutional arrangement.”
7. Sejourné leaving briefing
STORYLINE:
French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné visited Lebanon on Sunday and urged Israel and Hezbollah against any further escalation.
Séjourné arrived in Lebanon on Sunday as part of diplomatic attempts to broker a deescalation in the conflict on the Lebanon-Israel border.
“We refuse to accept the worst-case scenario," said Séjourné in a briefing.
“In southern Lebanon, the war is already here, even if it doesn’t say its name, and it’s the civilian population who’s paying the price,” he said.
Regarding ongoing diplomatic efforts towards de-escalation on the Israel-Lebanon border, Séjourné said “they should enable all parties to reach an agreement, or at least to make their proposals and react to France’s proposals.”
Séjourné declined to provide more details about France’s proposals ahead of his trip to Israel on Tuesday.
He said he will have “consultations” with Israeli authorities to move towards an agreement.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has exchanged strikes near-daily with Israeli forces in the border region — and sometimes beyond — for almost seven months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hezbollah ally Hamas in Gaza.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 350 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and allied groups but also including more than 50 civilians. Strikes by Hezbollah have killed 10 civilians and 12 soldiers in Israel.
A French diplomatic official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists said the purpose of Séjourné’s visit was to convey France’s “fears of a war on Lebanon” and to submit an amendment to a proposal Paris had previously presented to Lebanon for a diplomatic resolution to the border conflict.
Western diplomats have brought forward a series of proposals for a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
The previous French proposal would have involved Hezbollah withdrawing its forces 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border.
AP video by Ali Sharafeddine
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