Abbas: Israeli incursion raises fears of regional war

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today said Israel’s incursion into Lebanon had raised the spectre of a large-scale Middle East war and urged world powers to intervene “to stop this serious deterioration”.

“The expansion of the military action to the neighbour, Lebanon, is raising our fears of a new regional war,” Abbas said after meeting Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in the West Bank city of Ramallah.