French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu has said that Lebanon “doesn’t need a war” with Israel and warned against a regional escalation, AFP reports.

Lebanon’s southern border has seen near-daily exchanges of fire, mainly between Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah, since October 7.

“Lebanon doesn’t need a war, that’s the least we can say,” Lecornu said during a visit to French peacekeepers in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Such a war “could have major escalatory effects on the whole region,” he added.

The cross-border exchanges have left 66 dead on the Lebanese side — 48 of them Hezbollah fighters but also including seven civilians, one of them a Reuters journalist, according to an AFP tally.