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Middle East conflict

Macron warns Iran, regional groups against attacking Israel

The French leader said such a move would open a way to a regional conflict "in which all sides would be losers"

PARIS, October 24. /TASS/. French President Emmanuel Macron has warned various regional players, including Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, against attacking Israel.

He made the statement at a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"I would like to warn Hezbollah, the Iranian government, the Houthis in Yemen and other players in the region that threaten Israel, not to take the ill-considered risk of opening a new front," Macron said.

He said such a move would open a way to a regional conflict "in which all sides would be losers."

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7. Hamas regards the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Israel has declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and has started delivering strikes on that area and parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.

On October 15, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said at a meeting with Qatari ruling emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha that if Israel continued to strike civilians in the Gaza Strip, the conflict could expand. After the Hamas attack on Israel, the situation on the border between Israel and Lebanon has also escalated. There are daily clashes and exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and militants, presumably members of the Lebanese Shiite organization Hezbollah.

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France Iran Israel Emmanuel Macron

Middle East conflict

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