France, US to push roadmap to stop Hezbollah-Israel escalation - Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to the media, on the first day of the G7 summit, in Savelletri, Italy, June 13, 2024. /Louisa Gouliamaki

BORGO EGNAZIA, Italy - The United States, France and Israel have agreed to work together to step up efforts to push forward a roadmap presented by Paris earlier this year to defuse tensions between Hezbollah and Israel, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.

France and the United States have in recent months worked to try to defuse tensions with Paris submitting written proposals to both sides aimed at stopping worsening exchanges between them on the border between Lebanon and Israel.

"With the United States we agreed on the principle of a trilateral (contact group), Israel, the United States and France to advance on the roadmap that we proposed and we will do the same with the Lebanese authorities," Macron told reporters on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy.

Hezbollah, which has ruled out ending hostilities until there is a ceasefire between Israel and Islamist militant group Hamas in Gaza, said it had launched rockets and weaponised drones at nine Israeli military sites in a coordinated attack on Thursday, ramping up hostilities on Lebanon's southern border for the second consecutive day.

A senior French official said there was an urgency for the United States and France to step up their efforts given the dangerous escalation.

Source: Reuters