Blinken expresses "deep concern" over Lebanon-Israel border tensions in discussion with Lebanese PM

Nov 05, 2023

Amman [Jordan], November 5 : US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his "deep concern" in a meeting with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Amman about the cross-fire along Lebanon's southern border with Israel, CNN reported on Saturday.
"Secretary Blinken thanked the Prime Minister for his leadership in preventing Lebanon from being pulled into a war that the Lebanese people do not want, as well as his efforts with regional partners to pursue durable and sustainable peace in the region," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
Blinken also discussed US efforts to secure humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza, Miller said.
"The Secretary discussed US efforts to secure humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza and noted that Lebanon needs to select a President to lead the country through both the regional and domestic crises," CNN quoted Miller as saying.
Meanwhile, Blinken also met with Jordan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ayman Safadi, in Amman ahead of the joint meeting.
Earlier on Friday, Blinken called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken are meeting for the third time since the outbreak of the war, at the Kirya in Tel Aviv," Israel's PM Office posted on X.
Blinken and Netanyahu met privately and then held an expanded meeting together with the War Cabinet.
"At the start of the expanded meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu showed @SecBlinken and his delegation clips of the footage prepared by the IDF Spokesperson which depict the horrors and the massacre perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th," the Israeli PM office added.