Calls for Israel to withdraw troops from southern Lebanon

UN Security Council members were almost unanimous in their calls for Israel to withdraw forces from southern Lebanon as diplomatic efforts took centre stage during an emergency meeting of the body that went late into the night. The Council met after Israel's Prime Minister ordered his country's military to advance to the southern suburbs of Beirut, part of a sequence of events to target Hezbollah fighters. Fighting has displaced more than one million people in the country, amid growing fears of an Israeli occupation and a repeat of the horrific playbook seen in Gaza. The United States denounced only Hezbollah as US President Donald Trump signaled that due to his direct intervention the Israeli advance on Beirut would stop and Hezbollah would cease all shooting at Israel. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

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