Blinken urges against 'escalatory actions' in Mideast

PARIS — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday urged against "escalatory actions by any party" in the Middle East, following the explosions of devices of Lebanese militant group Hizbollah blamed on Israel.

"France and the Unit-ed States are united in calling for restraint and urging de-escalation when it comes to the Middle East in general and when it comes to Lebanon in particular," Blinken said after talks in Paris with his French counterpart Stephane Sejourne.

Blinken said this was especially important at a time when the international community was continuing work to agree a ceasefire in Gaza to end the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

"We continue to work to get a ceasefire for Gaza over the finish line... We believe that remains both possible and necessary. But meanwhile we don't want to see any escala-tory actions by any party that makes that more dif-ficult," Blinken said.

Sejourne, making one of his final public appearances ahead of a Cabinet reshuffle that will see him sent to Brussels as France's new EU commis-sioner, said both France and the United States were "very worried about the situation" in the Mid-dle East.

He said both the United States and France were coordinating to "send messages of de-escala-tion" to the parties.

"Lebanon would not re-cover from a total war," he said.

Fears of a major war on Israel's northern border have increased after thousands of Hizbollah operatives' communica-tion devices exploded across Lebanon, killing 37 people and wounding nearly 3,000 more across two days.