French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday he was dispatching his foreign minister to Lebanon this week as part of efforts to prevent a full-fledged war, calling on Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah to immediately stop hostilities. "There cannot be, must not be war in Lebanon," he said in a speech at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. France has historical ties with Lebanon and prior to the recent flare-up had worked for months on proposals to defuse tensions between the two sides. It has been working with the United States at the United Nations on an initiative to stop the fighting and open the door to more diplomacy, diplomats said. "We are firmly calling on Israel to stop the escalation in Lebanon and Hezbollah to stop firing toward Israel," Macron said. He said his newly appointed Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot would travel to Lebanon at the end of the week.