Gaza war: Baerbock on crisis diplomacy in Egypt

Four countries in two days: Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Egypt again as part of her crisis diplomacy in the Middle East following the outbreak of the Gaza war. The Green Party politician landed in the capital Cairo in the evening from Lebanon for the second time in a week.

This Saturday, Baerbock wants to take part in a “summit for peace” organized by Egypt. To do this, she extended her trip to Jordan, Israel and Lebanon, which was actually planned until Friday, by one day.

Baerbock had already been in Egypt last Saturday in connection with her efforts to free the hostages kidnapped by the Islamist Hamas. The hostages include German nationals, most of them dual nationals. At that time, the Federal Foreign Minister discussed the situation in the region with her Egyptian colleague Samih Schukri.

Middle East summit in Cairo

Baerbock hopes that the Middle East meeting on Saturday will send a signal against a regional expansion of the Gaza war. It’s about how to “prevent a conflagration and how to avert a civil catastrophe” after the major attack by Hamas and the closure of the Gaza Strip, she said in Israel.

Baerbock came to Cairo directly from the Lebanese capital Beirut. There she held talks with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib. The focus of the discussions may have been Baerbock’s attempt to persuade the country’s political leadership to influence the Shiite organization Hezbollah (Party of God).

There are fears that Hezbollah will intervene more strongly in the Gaza war than before. The group is considered significantly more powerful than Hamas. In addition to better training of fighters, it has a large arsenal of missiles and combat drones. There was initially no official information about the course of the talks.