Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in the New Administrative Capital. Photo: Al-Ahram
According to a statement from the foreign ministry, Cairo denounced Israel's ongoing military escalation in Lebanon and renewed its call for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory.
It also called for the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006, which mandates an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Israel launched strikes across southern Lebanon on Friday and Saturday, killing at least 11 people and injuring others, according to the health ministry in Beirut.
The Saturday strikes came a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces had pushed even deeper into Lebanese territory.
Egypt affirmed that "this dangerous development represents a complete violation of Lebanese sovereignty and a blatant act of aggression that reveals Israel's premeditated intentions to impose a new military reality on the ground," read the statement.
Cairo, additionally, reiterated its rejection of any threat to Lebanon's territorial integrity and national institutions, singling out the Lebanese Army as the body that must be empowered to exercise exclusive sovereignty over all Lebanese territory.
Egypt also warned that Israel's continued military expansion risks a broader explosion of the situation across the region, and called on the UN Security Council and the international community to act urgently and decisively to halt the aggression.
"This escalation will lead to more chaos and instability in the region at a time when regional and international parties are making strenuous diplomatic efforts to reduce the escalation and tension in the region," the statement warned.
The Israeli strikes came just a day after military delegations from both countries held landmark security talks in Washington, and ahead of a fourth round of US-brokered Israel-Lebanon peace talks scheduled for June 2-3 in Washington.
A truce to halt the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah officially took effect on 17 April but has never been fully observed.
Iran has insisted that Lebanon be included in any agreement with the US to end the wider regional war that erupted in February.
Short link: