German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has arrived in Lebanon for crisis talks over an escalation of the conflict between Israel and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia.
Baerbock speaks for the first time on Tuesday with interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati in the capital Beirut. Shortly before her return flight to Berlin, a meeting is also planned with the acting Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib.
At the security conference in Herzliya near Tel Aviv on Monday evening, Baerbock demanded a complete and verifiable withdrawal of the Shiite militia from the border area between Lebanon and Israel. “The risk of unintentional escalation and all-out war grows every day. Therefore, extreme caution is required,” Baerbock said.
Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, there have been daily clashes between the Israeli army, Hezbollah and allied groups in the Israel-Lebanon border area.
Hezbollah has an arsenal of approximately 150,000 rockets. In the event of war, it could fire thousands of rockets a day at Israeli cities and take out key infrastructure. A hail of rockets could overwhelm Israel’s missile defenses.