France's foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Tuesday urged Israel not to send in forces to take control of a zone in south Lebanon, saying such a move would have "major humanitarian consequences".
"We urge the Israeli authorities to refrain from such ground operations, which would have major humanitarian consequences and would exacerbate the country's already dire situation," Barrot told French news agency AFP.
Israel said on Tuesday that its military would take control of south Lebanon up to the Litani River, around 30 kilometres from the border, as deadly strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah continued in the country.
Lebanon's government has acted against Iranian interests and withdrew its approval of the Iranian ambassador's accreditation on Tuesday, a decision Barrot hailed as "courageous".
Iranian ambassador Mohammad Reza Sheibani was told to leave Lebanese territory by Sunday.
"I wish to commend the statements and actions of the Lebanese government... which this morning took a courageous decision by expelling the Iranian ambassador," Barrot said, accusing Hezbollah of dragging Lebanon into a new conflict.
Beirut has accused Iran's Revolutionary Guards of commanding Hezbollah's operations in its war against Israel.
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Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar welcomed Lebanon's decision to expel the ambassador as a "justified and necessary" step.
"We call on the Lebanese government to take practical and meaningful measures against Hezbollah, whose representatives still serve as ministers within it," Saar said in a post on social media platform X. Lebanon's health minister, Rakan Nassereddine, and labour minister, Mohammad Haidar, are Hezbollah-affiliated.
Barrot, who visited Beirut last Thursday, followed by Tel Aviv on Friday, had already expressed France's "reservations" about Israel's ground operations in Lebanon.
He also called on Israel to seize a "historic opportunity" and hold direct talks with the Lebanese authorities, after French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to host negotiations.
Empty villages
Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war when the Tehran-backed Hezbollah militant group began firing rockets into Israel on 2 March, to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israel has since launched strikes across Lebanon, killing at least 1,039 people and displacing more than a million others in more than three weeks of fighting. It has also sent ground troops into the country's south.
Israel kept up strikes across Lebanon on Tuesday, with the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reporting attacks in the country's south and east, as well as near Beirut, after a night of bombardment on the capital's southern suburbs.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military "will control... the security zone up to the Litani", adding that displaced Lebanese residents will not return south of the river "until security is guaranteed for the residents of the north" of Israel.
The area south of the Litani has seen vast destruction since hostilities erupted between Israel and Hezbollah in 2023 in the wake of the Gaza war, and despite a November 2024 ceasefire.
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Many border villages were largely empty of residents even before the Israeli army resumed heavy bombardment and incursions into the area since the latest war erupted more than three weeks ago.
Israel has repeatedly issued sweeping orders for residents to evacuate the area, while Hezbollah has reported regular attacks on Israeli troops there, including in the strategic border town of Khiam in recent days and in the village of Qawzah on Tuesday.
Katz said Israel's military was "following the model of Rafah and Beit Hanoun", two cities that were effectively razed during more than two years of war in Gaza, and which remain under Israeli military control.
Iran's Guards on Tuesday threatened "heavy" attacks on Israel "if its crimes against civilians in Lebanon and Palestine persist".
(with AFP)
