The head of European Union diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said on Saturday that Lebanon should not be “dragged into a regional conflict” after the escalation on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
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Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian Islamist movement, has increased fire from southern Lebanon towards northern Israel, generally targeting military objectives near the border. . The Israeli army responded with bombings.
These clashes raise fears of a regional conflagration, especially after the elimination of Hamas number two Saleh al-Arouri killed Tuesday in a strike attributed to Israel in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah.
This is the first strike since October 7 on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital.
“It is imperative to avoid regional escalation in the Middle East, it is absolutely necessary to prevent Lebanon from being drawn into a regional conflict,” Borrell said at a press conference in Beirut with the head of Lebanese diplomacy Abdallah Bouhabib.
“I also address Israel: no one will win from a regional conflict,” he added.
Hezbollah, whose leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday that Tuesday’s strike would not “go unanswered”, claimed to have fired dozens of rockets on Saturday towards a military base in northern Israel.
“I think that war can be avoided, that it must be avoided and that diplomacy can prevail,” Josep Borrell said.
Earlier in the day, he met with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the commander of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), General Aroldo Lazaro Saenz, and the head of Parliament, Nabih Berri.
His visit is part of a diplomatic effort aimed at avoiding a spillover of the conflict between Israel and Hamas triggered by an attack of unprecedented scale on Israeli soil on October 7, but also to call for a solution at war.
“Diplomatic channels must be open to signal that war is not the only option, but that it is the worst,” he insisted.
“(…) Israel has proclaimed its objective of eradicating Hamas. There must be another way to eradicate Hamas that does not cause so many deaths.
According to a latest report on Saturday from the Hamas Ministry of Health, Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip have left 22,722 dead, mostly civilians, since October 7.