Iranian FM meets Hezb chief, warns war could expand

Beirut [Lebanon], November 24:Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has met with Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, which has traded deadly cross-border fire with the Zionist entity since the start of the Gaza war, the Lebanese movement said Thursday. Since the Zionist-Hamas war began on Oct 7, the border between Lebanon and the Zionist entity has witnessed escalating exchanges of fire, primarily involving the Zionist entity and the Iran-backed Hezbollah, along with Palestinian groups. The clashes have raised fears of a broader conflagration.
In a statement, Hezbollah said Amir-Abdollahian and Nasrallah "reviewed the latest developments in Palestine, Lebanon and the region, and... the efforts made to end the (Zionist) aggression against the Gaza Strip". Amir-Abdollahian, who warned on Wednesday that the war could spiral out of control, left Beirut for Doha after their meeting, Iran's Nour news agency reported.
"If this ceasefire starts tomorrow, if it does not continue... the conditions in the region will not remain the same as before the ceasefire and the scope of the war will expand," Amir-Abdollahian told the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen television channel, according to Iran's Fars news agency. "We do not seek to expand the scope of the war," he added. "If the intensity of the war increases, every possibility is conceivable for the expansion of the scope of the war."
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Amir-Abdollahian said Iran saw two options. "First, a humanitarian ceasefire that turns into a permanent ceasefire. The second way is to threaten the Palestinian people, then the Palestinian people will decide for themselves," he said, adding that Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin "Netanyahu cannot fulfil his dream of destroying Hamas". "We support whatever decision Hamas makes," he added in the interview, according to Fars.
In his second visit to Lebanon since the Zionist-Hamas war started, Iran's top diplomat met senior Lebanese and Palestinian officials. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati emphasized the need for a total ceasefire and to "stop the (Zionist) aggression on Gaza", a statement from his office said after his meeting with Amir-Abdollahian. Mikati also urged "influential countries to pressure (the Zionist entity) to stop its attacks on south Lebanon, and stop its targeting of civilians and journalists in particular".
The Iranian diplomat also met with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, discussing the war and "strengthening the stability and security of the region", Iran's foreign ministry said. He also met with the secretary general of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad Ziyad Al-Nakhalah, and senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya. They discussed "the impending ceasefire process", according to the Iranian ministry.
Earlier Wednesday, Hezbollah said its chief Nasrallah had met with Hamas' Hayya and Osama Hamdan, another senior official from the Palestinian group, to discuss "coordination", according to a statement. Hamas' armed wing meanwhile said that a senior leader in its military wing in Lebanon, Khalil Al-Kharraz, had been killed in south Lebanon on Tuesday. In a separate statement, Hamas said two Lebanese citizens and two Turkish nationals were also killed Tuesday in south Lebanon.
Hezbollah said on Thursday morning that it fired 48 Katyusha rockets at a military base at Ein Zeitim, near the town of Safed in the Zionist entity, about 10 km from the border. It said it also carried out at least 10 other attacks on Zionist positions near the frontier, and claimed to have caused casualties. The Zionist army shelled several locations in southern Lebanon in response, said Lebanon's National News Agency.
The violence between the Zionist entity and Hezbollah has claimed at least 108 lives in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters, but also at least 14 civilians, including three journalists, according to an AFP count. Six Zionist soldiers and three civilians have been killed on the Zionist side, according to the authorities.
The Zionist entity and Hamas on Wednesday agreed a four-day truce and a hostage and prisoner swap which was now expected to start by Friday at the earliest. In Tehran, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi argued that the Zionist entity had failed to reach its objectives in the war and that "the Palestinian people and resistance won a great victory", the official IRNA news agency reported. - Agencies
Source: Kuwait Times