Foreign Office warns
Germans should leave Lebanon “urgently”
26.06.2024, 20:47
Only on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Baerbock visited Lebanon and warned of another war in the region. The following day, the Foreign Office tightened the travel advice for the country. The situation there could “escalate further at any time” and Western foreigners could be targeted.
In view of the tense situation in the Israeli-Lebanese border region, the German government has tightened its travel advice for Lebanon. “German citizens are urgently requested to leave Lebanon,” the updated recommendations of the Federal Foreign Office (AA)“The currently heightened tensions in the border area with Israel can escalate further at any time.” In addition, there is “an increased risk of terrorist attacks” in Lebanon, which could also be directed against Western foreigners or large hotels.
The radical Islamic Hezbollah militia in Lebanon has been attacking northern Israel with rockets and drones since the start of the war between Israel and the radical Islamic Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israel is responding to the shelling with increased attacks on Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon. The Shiite militia, which is supported by Iran and allied with Hamas, controls the area just behind Israel’s northern border.
In view of the threats from both sides, fears of an escalation have grown in recent days. This could also lead to air traffic from the Rafic Hariri airport in Beirut being completely suspended, according to the new travel and security advice from the AA. “Leaving Lebanon by air would then no longer be possible.”
Lebanese government without “effective control”
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who visited Beirut on Tuesday, warned this morning of unforeseeable consequences in the Middle East in view of growing tensions. “Another war would mean a regional escalation on a scale that none of us can imagine,” the Green Party politician said on Deutschlandfunk.
However, Israel and Lebanon are in danger of sliding into such a war. “And that is exactly what we need to prevent: that the daily escalation, with more rockets flying, means that large parts of both sides do not want this war, but we slide into it.” During her talks in Beirut on Tuesday, she got the impression that the Lebanese government sees it that way too. Unfortunately, however, the government has “no real effective control on the ground, including over Hezbollah.” This makes the talks on the ground in cooperation with the USA and France all the more important.
The next steps in the Gaza war are also crucial for further developments on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. “If this urgently needed ceasefire is finally achieved in Gaza, then that will also calm the northern front,” said Baerbock. In her opinion, another war front would be fatal. A plan for a ceasefire in the Gaza war presented by US President Joe Biden is supported by the Israeli government, said the minister. Hamas must accept this plan.