US, France, Germany, UK Urge De-Escalation along Lebanon’s Southern Border

 Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (R) meets with the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Beirut on October 20, 2023. (AFP)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (R) meets with the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Beirut on October 20, 2023. (AFP)
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US, France, Germany, UK Urge De-Escalation along Lebanon’s Southern Border

 Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (R) meets with the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Beirut on October 20, 2023. (AFP)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (R) meets with the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Beirut on October 20, 2023. (AFP)

Contacts have intensified between Lebanon and international powers to de-escalate the tensions along the Lebanese-Israeli border.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held telephone talks with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to discuss the situation in Lebanon and the region, the PM’s office said on Friday.

Earlier on Friday, Mikati had received German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Beirut.

The FM underlined the need to “avoid any miscalculations and keep Lebanon away from the conflict” in Gaza as much as possible.

For his part, Mikati said: “We are exerting all our efforts to restore calm in the South.”

He called for pressure to be applied on Israel to “stop its aggression against Lebanon and reach a ceasefire in Gaza.”

Baerbock met her Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib. They agreed that the two-state solution would pave the way to tackling the root causes of the conflict in Gaza.

“We are banking on Germany’s influence in Europe and the world and its experience in suffering the calamities of war to reach an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and allow humanitarian aid to be delivered” to the enclave, Bou Habib added.

He also warned that the dangerous consequences of the conflict will not only impact the Middle East, but Europe in specific and the entire world.

The minister made the same warning before several ambassadors to Lebanon, including the envoys of Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Canada.

He urged their countries to intervene to pressure Israel to stop its escalation, while warning of the rising hate speech and incitement to violence that would spread to the West.

Meanwhile, caretaker Defense Minister Maurice Sleep received a telephone call from his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu for talks on the developments in southern Lebanon and Gaza.

Lecornu stressed that France was carrying out contacts with the international community to discuss the developments in Gaza.

He stressed “the need for Lebanon to steer clear of the repercussions of the situation in the Palestinian territories.”

Lebanon is a priority for France, he declared.

He also highlighted the role of the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) in the south and the need to avoid escalation along the Lebanese-Israeli border.

For his part, Sleem pointed to the “ongoing Israeli violations against civilians and civilian, health and religious infrastructure in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”

He said close coordination was ongoing between the Lebanese army and UNIFIL.

The situation in the South was discussed between Army Commander Joseph Aoun and a US Congressional delegation. They tackled the overall situation in Lebanon and its military and the challenges it is facing.

Aoun also held talks with Air Marshal Sampson, UK Defense Senior Advisor to the Middle East and North Africa, who was in Lebanon for a two-day visit.

Sampson underscored the UK’s stance that Lebanon must not be dragged into a regional conflict.

He stressed that the Lebanese army was leading efforts to protect Lebanon’s security and stability, and this is a priority for the UK.

He also met with Mikati during his visit and contacted UNIFIL commander Aroldo Lazaro, expressing the UK’s support to the peacekeeping force and its significant role in preserving calm and stability.



UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli forces raided four of its schools in east Jerusalem, ordering their closure.

Israel has severed all ties with the agency, known as UNRWA, and bars it from operating in its territory. It says the agency allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, allegations denied by UN officials.

UNRWA said police entered a training center by force on Tuesday, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It said 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the Qalandiya Training Center.

It said police and city officials ordered the closure of three other schools in east Jerusalem, two of which proceeded with the school day.

Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said police did not enter the UN buildings and that Jerusalem municipal authorities carried out the closures. He said police were deployed to protect the city workers, using “riot dispersal” means in one case where a crowd threw stones at them outside a UN facility.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, said the raids were an “unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities,” and a “denial of the right to education for children and trainees.”