Al sharq Tribune - Ahram online
Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr Abdelatty and his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi discussed on Saturday 28/9/2024 the urgency of de-escalating tensions in the Middle East to spare the region from descending into an all-out war that could shatter its security and stability. This came during a meeting between the two top diplomats on the sidelines of the high-level meetings of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The meeting came hours after Iran's Lebanese ally Hezbollah confirmed that its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was killed on Friday in Israeli airstrikes on the southern district of Beirut. During the meeting, FMs Abdelatty and Araghchi discussed dangerous developments in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon in light of the unjustified Israeli escalation with its consequences for the security of the Middle East, read a statement by the Egyptian foreign ministry. In recent months, the Egyptian foreign minister has maintained regular contact with top Iranian diplomats to discuss reaching a ceasefire in the Gaza war and de-escalating regional tensions. On Friday evening, during a speech at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) emergency session on Palestine hours after the Israeli airstrikes on southern Beirut, FM Abdelatty condemned Israel's persistence in expanding the conflict amid its ongoing attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, During the session, FM Abdelatty urged the UNSC to fulfil its responsibilities and take measures to halt the ongoing conflict in the region through an immediate, comprehensive, and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon. Cairo has repeatedly called on the international community to pressure Israel to end its war on Gaza, which killed and injured over 140,000 Palestinians, mostly children and women, damaged most of Gaza’s infrastructure, and displaced the majority of the population since 7 October 2023. Egypt has also condemned recent Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, which killed more than 700 and wounded hundreds of others, as a blatant violation of Lebanese sovereignty
