Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at the Amiri Diwan in Doha on Sunday, where talks centred on the developments in Palestine and the region.

“The meeting discussed the latest developments in the Palestinian territories and the region, in addition to the bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries and ways of enhancing and developing them,” Qatar’s state news agency (QNA) reported.

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani was also in attendance, QNA added.

The meeting comes amid growing regional concerns over the ongoing Israeli bombardment of Gaza, which is fast approaching one month without an effective ceasefire in sight. Occupation forces (IOF) have instead doubled down on their attacks on the Strip and threatened a ground invasion.

Within 23 days, Israel has killed more than 8,000 people in Gaza, 3,195 of which are children. More than one million people have been internally displaced, the majority of which are taking shelter in hospitals and schools.

Tensions have also spread to the shared Lebanese and Israeli border in recent weeks, with Hezbollah and the IOF exchanging attacks in the area. On 13 October, the IOF targeted an international press crew while they were covering the cross-border attacks near the Lebanese village of Alma al-Shaab.

The attack killed Reuters’ Lebanese video journalist Issam Abdallah and injured six other members of the press, including two Al Jazeera journalists—all of which were identifiable by their blue flack jackets and helmets.

Last week, Lebanon said it was submitting a formal complaint to the UN Security Council over Israel’s “deliberate killing” of Abdallah.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates instructed the Permanent Mission of Lebanon to the UN in New York to submit a complaint to the UN Security Council about Israel’s deliberate killing of the martyr Lebanese journalist Issam Abdullah, who worked for Reuters, and the wounding of other journalists from Agence France-Presse and Al Jazeera,” the Lebanese foreign ministry said on 14 October.

Concerns over all-out war

The cross-border attacks have raised concern over a potential spillover into Lebanon. In 2006, Israel waged a deadly 34-day war on Lebanon, killing 1,200 mostly Lebanese civilians. The war ended with Hezbollah forcing Israeli soldiers out after weeks of intense attacks.

Last week, the United Nations warned that more than 19,000 people in Lebanon have been internally displaced since early October when Israel launched one of the deadliest wars on Gaza.

Lebanon’s fragile infrastructure and collapsing economy cannot afford another deadly war. 

For four years, Lebanon’s economy has been facing its worst downfall in decades, with the Lebanese Lira losing more than 90% of its value to the US dollar. In 2019, mass protests broke out in Beirut due to the lack of basic resources.