“We need to de-escalate military tensions and use this opportunity to urge all sides to pursue this path,” said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell during his visit to Beirut.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell visited Lebanon on Thursday on a mission to discuss regional issues amid escalating conflict in the Middle East.
The high representative for the EU’s foreign affairs and security policy urged Lebanon and Israel to work on de-escalating tensions along the border, as members of the militant Hezbollah group and Israel’s military carried out cross-border attacks along the tense frontier.
Western and Arab officials have visited Beirut over the past year to ease Lebanon-Israel border tensions, but Hezbollah has stated that attacks will only cease if Israel halts its Gaza offensive.
“Since I lasted visited Lebanon in January the drums of war have not stopped pounding,” Borrell told reporters in Beirut during a joint press conference with Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib.
“Since then, the fears I was outlining have been growing, more escalation, fears of a spillover of the war in Gaza and fears of more widespread human suffering,” he added.
Borrell also visited the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) headquarters in Naqoura and met with peacekeepers from the 16 EU nations contributing to the force.
Under the EU’s Resolution 1701, which demands a complete cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, the bloc’s support for the Lebanese people and a diplomatic solution are crucial for restoring stability.
In the past, Borrell has slammed the Israeli government over the war in Gaza, saying the crisis in the Palestinian territory was a “human-made tragedy”.
