G7: Escalation in Middle East could drag region into wider conflict

The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven countries warned that the escalation in the Middle East could drag the region into a wider conflict "from which no country will benefit". The ministers said in a statement following a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings, coinciding with intensive Israeli raids on Lebanon, "The moves and counter-moves threaten to exacerbate this dangerous cycle of violence and drag the entire Middle East into a wider regional conflict with unimaginable consequences". The statement called for an end to what it called "the current destructive cycle". Yesterday, Monday, the Israeli warplanes launched hundreds of raids on areas in southern and eastern Lebanon, leaving 492 martyrs (including 35 children and 58 women), and 1,645 wounded, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. Source: National Iraqi News Agency