Penny Wong renews plea to Australians in Lebanon, warns of ‘regional escalation’

The warning comes after Lebanese officials said a second spate of deadly explosions killed at least 20 people.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has renewed her plea to Australians in Lebanon to leave the country after a second spate of explosions on Wednesday (local time) killed nearly two dozen people and injured hundreds more.

The attacks, which were carried out using rigged walkie-talkies, are broadly seen as targeting fighters of Hezbollah, a Lebanese political party and militant group that has been engaged in cross-border fighting with the Israeli military since the start of the Israel-Hamas War.

“Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation,” Senator Wong told reporters on Thursday.

“I would also say to Australians in Lebanon this reflects the concern we’ve had for some time about the potential for regional escalation.

It is too dangerous for Australians in Lebanon, Penny Wong says. Picture: X

“You would have heard me say if you are in Lebanon, leave now.

“We are concerned about wider escalation, and we would continue to urge all parties to avert a regional escalation.”

Wednesday’s blasts killed 20 people and injured more than 450, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

Meanwhile, the death toll from Tuesday’s explosions rose to 12, with nearly 3000 injured, including Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon.

Israel has not commented on the either attacks directly, but Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday (local time) his country was “opening a new phase in the war”.

“It requires courage, determination and perseverance from us,” Mr Gallant said.

Senator Wong refused to comment on whether she thought Israel was responsible for the attacks in Lebanon, but said that “we know that Israel lives in a unique security environment, and we also know that we see a cycle of violence in the Middle East.”

“We would like to see peace and the peoples of region would like to see peace,” she said.

A man holds a walkie talkie device after he removed the battery during the funeral of persons killed when hundreds of paging devices exploded in a deadly wave across Lebanon on Tuesday. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

A man reacts while holding a Hezbollah flag during the funeral of people killed after Tuesday’s attacks. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

Earlier, Australia joined the UK and Canada among 43 countries that abstained from voting on a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution demanding Israel “its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” within a year.

The UNGA adopted the Palestinian-drafted resolution overwhelmingly, with 124 in favour and just 12 against.

Senator Wong said that Australia “worked very hard” with other countries to get amendments through that would have let Canberra to back the resolution.

“We voted for recognition and ceasefire ... because we were able to get a set of words that we could support,” she said.

“Unfortunately, this was not the case. Nevertheless, we support the principles of determination for the Palestinian people.”

The senator said she understood why Australians were concerned about the conflict in Gaza, adding she herself was “deeply concerned”.

“10,000 children have been killed,” she said.

“I am deeply concerned about the conflict in Gaza. And we will continue to do everything we are able to do to seek peace.”

But Greens defence spokesman David Shoebridge accused the government of not supporting the resolution because it would have affected “arms trade with Israel”.

“Foreign Minister Penny Wong can spin this however she wants,” he told reporters on Thursday afternoon.

“But one of the core reasons why the Australian government voted down the UN resolution was it would have required Australia to stop the two way arms trade with Israel.”

The government has denied supplying weapons and munitions to Israel in the past five years.

It has also supported the UK’s move to cut back weapons exports to Israel.

But Senator Shoebridge said that the government was supporting the Israeli military by supplying parts to the US that “find their way onto Israeli F-35 fighter planes and will be used in the appalling genocide in Gaza.”

He also accused Israel of “widespread killing” and “indiscriminate violence against civilians” in Lebanon.

Israel launched its military action in Gaza after Hamas, the Iran-backed terrorist group that administers the Palestinian territory, killed 1200 in its brutal October 7 attacks last year, according to Israeli government figures.

Much of Hamas’ assault was captured in graphic videos that flooded social media.

Witnesses on the ground shared accounts of whole families being killed and horrific sexual violence.

Hamas fighters took hundreds more hostage as they retreated back into Gaza.

The ensuing Israeli response, involving land and air offensives, has killed some 40,000, according to UN numbers.

Hezbollah, also backed by Iran, began firing rockets at homes in northern Israel in solidarity with Gaza, prompting the displacement of residents in the region.