Turkey voices support for Lebanon amid Israeli attacks

Turkey's foreign minister told his Lebanese counterpart on Wednesday that Ankara stood with Lebanon against attacks by Israel targeting the Hezbollah terrorist group in the country, a Turkish diplomatic source said to Reuters.

A NATO member, Turkey has denounced Israel's military offensive in Gaza prompted by Palestinian terrorist group Hamas' cross-border massacre on October 7 last year.

Turkey has halted all trade with Israel and has applied to join a genocide case against Israel at the World Court. Israel has said the genocide accusations are baseless.

President Tayyip Erdogan has also condemned Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory, which Israel is targeting Hezbollah fighters and infrastructure, and demanded international steps to halt Israel's war in Gaza and cross-border fire with Hezbollah.

Turkish support

In a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Lebanon's Abdallah Bou Habib that Israel's attacks in Lebanon were "unacceptable" and meant to "drag the region into chaos," according to the Turkish diplomatic source.

Bou Habib thanked Fidan for a Turkish shipment of medicine that arrived in Lebanon on Wednesday, the source added, and also briefed Fidan on the latest developments in Lebanon.

Separately, Fidan told a G20 foreign minister's meeting in New York that it was unclear whether the cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah would spread further.

Fidan also reiterated Ankara's long-standing call to reform the UN Security Council to make it "fully effective," adding that Turkey wanted to see a structure in which "one country's veto does not determine another's destiny," the source added.

The United States, Russia, China, France, and the UK are the permanent, veto-wielding members of the Security Council. There are 10 non-permanent members that serve two-year terms.