The United States, France and Israel have agreed to work together to step up efforts to push forward a roadmap presented by Paris earlier this year to defuse tensions between Hezbollah and Israel, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to the media, on the first day of the G7 summit, in Savelletri, Italy, June 13, 2024. Reuters/Louisa Gouliamaki
The United States, France and Israel have agreed to work together to step up efforts to push forward a roadmap presented by Paris earlier this year to defuse tensions between Hezbollah and Israel, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.
France and the United States have in recent months worked to try to defuse tensions with Paris submitting written proposals to both sides aimed at stopping worsening exchanges between them on the border between Lebanon and Israel.
"With the United States we agreed on the principle of a trilateral (contact group), Israel, the United States and France to advance on the roadmap that we proposed and we will do the same with the Lebanese authorities," Macron told reporters on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy.
Hezbollah, which has ruled out ending hostilities until there is a ceasefire between Israel and Islamist militant group Hamas in Gaza, said it had launched rockets and weaponised drones at nine Israeli military sites in a coordinated attack on Thursday, ramping up hostilities on Lebanon's southern border for the second consecutive day.
A senior French official said there was an urgency for the United States and France to step up their efforts given the dangerous escalation.
(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Reporting by John Irish
Israel will escalate strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, as a U.S. official said the militia had ignored warnings to halt firing at Israel in a conflict that could threaten U.S.-Iran negotiations.
Iran's top negotiator and its foreign minister were in Doha for talks with Qatar's prime minister on a potential deal with the U.S. to end the three-month-old war, an official briefed on the visit said on Monday, after Washington and Tehran played down hopes for an imminent breakthrough.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday that conclusions have been reached on many topics discussed in a potential 14-point memorandum of understanding, but this does not mean a deal to end the Middle East war is imminent.
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