Borrell warns that “we are on the brink of a total war” in Lebanon

The head of European diplomacy stresses that “civilians are paying an intolerable price”

September 24 () –

The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, warned this Monday that “we are on the brink of an all-out war” in Lebanon, after Israel killed almost 500 people and injured 1,600 in bombings carried out during the day, within the framework of the clashes between the Israeli Army and the Lebanese Shiite party-militia Hezbollah.

“The catastrophe continues, and the escalation in Lebanon is extremely dangerous and worrying. I was in Lebanon a few days ago, just before the explosion of electronic devices. It has been creating terror among the Lebanese population. I can say that we are almost in a total war. We are seeing more military attacks, more collateral damage, more victims,” ​​he said during a press conference.

Borrell lamented that a “large number of children and women” have died, while “on television screens we see thousands of people fleeing to the north” of Lebanon, “causing huge traffic jams in the transport system as they flee.” “The attacks will continue and so will the bombings,” he observed from New York, where the 79th session of the UN General Assembly is being held this week.

“But now we are seeing how civilians are paying an intolerable, unacceptable price,” he said, pointing out that the preliminary casualty figures “defy any consideration” because the explosions are taking place “without taking into account the environment in which they explode”: “Whether in a shopping centre, in a square, in the street, in a hospital, wherever. These are selective and at the same time random attacks,” he criticised.

The head of European diplomacy explained that they had been “selective in purpose” and “random in consequences”, and took the opportunity to “condemn” these actions, stressing that “civilians are paying a high price” and that “a full-blown war” “must be avoided”, renewing “tense efforts at diplomatic mediation”.

“I think we still have hope, (…) but the worst expectations are becoming reality,” he said. He also maintained that “peace is needed in the Middle East, because the ongoing escalation is a danger for the entire region,” while “the road to peace begins with a single step” which is a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

However, he acknowledged that “despite all the diplomatic capacity deployed, nothing has been able to stop the war” because “both sides are postponing peace negotiations” because “they pretend to do so, but in reality, for one reason or another, there is no ceasefire agreement.”

Borrell has called for an improvement in the situation on the Blue Line, “as well as” in Gaza, since “they are not different, they are strongly interconnected.” “What is happening in Gaza is triggering other war scenarios in Lebanon, in the Red Sea and, unfortunately, and we do not talk about it enough, in the West Bank.”

Asked about Israel’s closure of the Qatari television network Al Jazeera’s office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, he said it was “very bad news” and “certainly” had to be condemned: “It was providing a valuable service to informing people,” he said.

“Israel has imposed the longest blackout in Gaza in history in a war. Al Jazeera is paying a high price with the number of journalists killed. And this is something that everyone has been condemning. But believe me, I have no ability to change this behaviour,” he said.

However, he recalled that this situation “leads to a lack of information about what is happening inside Gaza or what is happening in the West Bank.” “This is a fact. I am not making anything up. It is a blind situation in which there are no witnesses who can explain and show what is happening,” he criticised.