German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for a “diplomatic solution” to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah during a telephone conversation with Lebanon’s interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a government spokesman in Berlin said.
Scholz expressed “great concern” about the escalation of fighting and pointed to the danger of a “regional conflagration,” government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said on Wednesday evening.
“The Chancellor stressed that a diplomatic solution to the conflict was possible,” the statement said, specifically citing the nearly two-decade-old UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
The resolution called for a complete cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah and specified permissible activities in the border area, including the withdrawal of Iranian-backed militias.
The Israeli army and Hezbollah have been fighting in the border area for months. The cross-border attacks have escalated dramatically in recent days with intensive Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon and hundreds of rockets fired by Hezbollah.
