Bou Habib broaches south Lebanon developments with UN’s Plasschaert, receives phone calls from Arab League’s Aboul Gheit and EU’s Borrel

Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Dr. Abdallah Bou Habib, received on Monday the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, with whom he discussed the developments in south Lebanon. Minister Bou Habib stressed the "necessity of self-restraint to avoid a regional war that would have major repercussions on the entire region," reiterating "Lebanon's commitment to the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 as the optimal solution to the crisis in southern Lebanon." On the other hand, Bou Habib received phone calls from: Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. The Minister also received phone calls from the Foreign Ministers of Italy, the Kingdom of Morocco, and the Arab Republic of Egypt. Bou Habib also communicated electronically with the Dutch Foreign Minister, Caspar Veldkamp, ??where the discussion focused on "ways to pr event escalation in southern Lebanon to safeguard the situation from deteriorating and sliding into a regional war that would be difficult to contain." He underlined that "the full implementation of Resolution 1701 would ensure stability on the border between Lebanon and Israel." Source: National News Agency - Lebanon