Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wants to continue mediating in the Middle East conflict. She arrived unexpectedly in the Lebanese capital – while the war was raging there.
In the midst of the armed conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militia, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Lebanon for a visit. “The humanitarian situation in Lebanon is becoming more desperate every day,” said the Green politician upon her arrival in Beirut on Wednesday. “Lebanon is on the verge of collapse.” Hundreds of thousands of people are on the run, children are separated from their parents, hospitals are working at the limit of their capacity.
The Green Party politician landed in a small Bundeswehr aircraft at Rafik Hariri International Airport in the Lebanese capital in the morning. Discussions with politicians and representatives of aid organizations are planned afterwards.
Annalena Baerbock traveled to the region several times last year
The visit was initially kept secret for security reasons. It is the German Foreign Minister’s fourth trip to Lebanon since the Islamist Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. However, the security situation has deteriorated significantly since the last visit. During her talks in Beirut and then at a Lebanon conference in Paris, she wanted to “explore how we can make progress on this difficult path and at the same time help to alleviate the humanitarian suffering.”
With regard to Hezbollah, Baerbock emphasized: “In Lebanon, too, we see how irresponsibly terrorists hide behind civilians and continue to fire rockets at Israel from there.” That is unbearable. At the same time, Israel must “align its operations within the narrow limits of the law of self-defense and international humanitarian law and protect the lives of innocent civilians.” In addition, both parties to the conflict are obliged to protect the UN peacekeepers Unifil.
Israel is fighting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon with air strikes and also with ground troops in the south of the country. The current war began a year ago with rocket attacks by the Lebanese militia in support of Hamas, against which Israel has been waging war in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, which left around 1,200 dead. Since then, Hezbollah and Israel’s military have been engaged in heavy fire. Hundreds of people have been killed, thousands injured and hundreds of thousands displaced, most of them in Lebanon.
Source: Stern
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