EU’s top diplomat urges de-escalation at Lebanon-Israel border

Beirut: The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, on Thursday in Beirut called for a de-escalation of tensions on the Lebanon-Israel border, with ongoing fears of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah.

“Since I last visited Lebanon in January, the drums of war have not stopped pounding,” Borrell said, noting that as yet, full-blown conflict in south Lebanon “has not happened. That’s good news”.

“We need to de-escalate military tensions,” Borrell told a news conference with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, urging “all sides to pursue this path”.

As war has raged in the Gaza Strip following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, Lebanon’s Hezbollah has traded near-daily fire with Israeli forces in support of the Palestinian militant group.

Repeated escalations have punctuated the cross-border violence, along with flurries of diplomatic activity to avert a wider conflict, most recently last month after an Israeli strike in July killed a top Hezbollah commander.

Borrell said the EU was putting all its diplomatic efforts towards avoiding a broader escalation, particularly in south Lebanon, but added: “I don’t have a magic wand”.

“We have to continue pushing for a comprehensive peace in the region,” he said at the end of a two-day trip to Lebanon after also visiting Egypt.

Former war cabinet member Benny Gantz on Sunday said Israel should shift its focus toward Hezbollah and the Lebanese border, warning that “we are capable of... hitting the state of Lebanon if needed”.

Borrell called for the full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which “should pave the way for a comprehensive settlement, including land border demarcation and allowing” tens of thousands of displaced people to return on both sides.

The resolution ended a 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and called for the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers to be the only armed forces deployed in south Lebanon.

Lebanon and Israel demarcated their maritime frontier in 2022 but disputes over the land border remain unresolved.

Bou Habib reiterated Lebanon’s commitment to “the comprehensive and balanced implementation” of Resolution 1701.

Borrell also met with other officials including Prime Minister Najib Mikati and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, and on Wednesday visited the headquarters of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon in the border town of Naqura.

The cross-border violence since early October has killed some 619 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but also including at least 138 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, authorities have announced the deaths of at least 24 soldiers and 26 civilians.AFP