BEIRUT: France's top diplomat was due in Beirut later on Monday for talks on de-escalating near-daily exchanges of fire on the Israel border, which have triggered fears of all-out conflict.
Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna was expected to call for responsibility and restraint in her meetings with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and parliament speaker Nabih Berri.
Since October 8, the day after the Israel-Gaza conflict started, the frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen escalating exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Lebanese groups, which say it is acting in support of Palestinians.
Fears of a widening war have been growing, with other groups attacking US-led coalition forces in Iraq and Syria, and Yemen targeting shipping in the Red Sea.
In Israel on Sunday, Colonna called on all parties to "de-escalate" along the Lebanon-Israel border.
"If things were to spiral out of control, I don't think anyone would benefit," she said.
A French diplomatic source expressed concern that Beirut could underestimate Israel's determination to protect its borders.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on Sunday that Israel "has no intention to start another front on our northern border" and that France could play a "positive and significant role" in preventing an all-out war.
But he warned that ensuring the security of Israelis near the border "north of the Litani River", some 30 kilometres north of the border.
On Sunday, senior Lebanese lawmaker Mohammed Raad, whose son was killed in an Israeli bombing last month, said groups are "not afraid of (Israel's) intimidation or the slogans it puts out via international intermediaries to remove our people" from parts of south Lebanon.
Since the cross-border exchanges began in October, more than 130 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, most of them fighters and 17 civilians, three of them journalists.
French diplomats say Israeli bombardments have been intensifying, adding to fears of a major escalation. — AFP
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