Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced on Tuesday that he would travel unexpectedly to New York, where the UN General Assembly is being held, in the wake of the wave of Israeli bombings that the day before caused almost 500 deaths in Lebanon.
“Given the current developments, the Prime Minister has decided to go to New York for further contacts and the meeting of the Council of Ministers scheduled for 11:00 is therefore cancelled,” the Lebanese government said in a statement.
Mikati was scheduled to chair a Cabinet meeting in Beirut this morning to discuss the situation in the country.
Israel carried out heavy bombardment on Monday in large areas of southern and eastern Lebanon, killing 492 people and wounding 1,640, according to the latest tally from the country’s Health Ministry.
Air strikes continued overnight in at least 30 locations in the eastern district of Baalbek, according to the National News Agency (ANN).
Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes in the affected regions, while authorities have opened new schools to accommodate displaced people to cope with the wave of mass exodus.
Lebanon is in its most delicate moment since the outbreak of intense clashes between the Jewish state and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah almost a year ago.
France, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has called for an urgent meeting of the body to discuss the situation in Lebanon, something that governments such as Turkey have also demanded.
According to Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, Israel is seeking to “plunge the entire region into chaos” and countries that “unconditionally support Israel” are collaborating with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “shed blood for their political interests.”
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