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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)
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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.

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Arab World

Israeli Airstrikes Kill Four in Gaza

UN vehicles escort ambulances and a bus carrying Palestinian patients in Khan Younis as they travel to the Rafah crossing to leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Thursday, Mar, 19, 2026.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
UN vehicles escort ambulances and a bus carrying Palestinian patients in Khan Younis as they travel to the Rafah crossing to leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Thursday, Mar, 19, 2026.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Israeli Airstrikes Kill Four in Gaza

UN vehicles escort ambulances and a bus carrying Palestinian patients in Khan Younis as they travel to the Rafah crossing to leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Thursday, Mar, 19, 2026.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
UN vehicles escort ambulances and a bus carrying Palestinian patients in Khan Younis as they travel to the Rafah crossing to leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Thursday, Mar, 19, 2026.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

An Israeli airstrike on a police vehicle on Sunday killed three people in the middle of the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, health officials said, hours after another person was killed in a strike on northern Gaza.

According to Reuters, medics and police sources said the three men killed in Nuseirat were members of the Hamas-led police force.

Ten people were also wounded in the attack, medics said.

Earlier on Sunday ⁠a separate airstrike ⁠killed one person - identified as a leader of one of Fatah's armed groups - and injured an unknown number of others in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza.

The Israeli military said it was checking on ⁠the two incidents.

While Israeli attacks in Gaza declined in the days after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, according to residents, medics and analysts, they have since begun to rise again. Israeli fire has killed dozens of Palestinians since the outbreak of the Iran war, Gaza health officials say.

In Gaza there have been regular outbreaks of ⁠violence ⁠since a ceasefire went into effect in October following two years of devastating war triggered by Hamas-led attacks in Israel in October 2023.

The territory's health ministry says that at least 680 people have been killed by Israeli fire since the October ceasefire. Israel said four soldiers were killed by militants in Gaza in the same period.

Israel and Hamas have traded blame for truce violations.

Arab World

Lebanon President Calls Israeli Bridge Strikes 'Prelude to Ground Invasion'

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (AFP)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (AFP)
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Lebanon President Calls Israeli Bridge Strikes 'Prelude to Ground Invasion'

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (AFP)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (AFP)

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Sunday slammed Israeli strikes on bridges and other infrastructure in the country's south, calling such attacks a "prelude to a ground invasion".

Aoun "condemned Israel's targeting and destruction of infrastructure and vital facilities in southern Lebanon, particularly the Qasmiyeh bridge over the Litani River and other bridges", a presidency statement said, AFP reported.

"These attacks represent a dangerous escalation and flagrant violation of Lebanon's sovereignty, and are considered a prelude to a ground invasion," Aoun said, hours after Israel's defense minister said the army had been ordered to destroy more bridges allegedly being used by Hezbollah.

Arab World

Ceasefire Efforts Enter an 'Open-Ended Pause,' Alarming Lebanese

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun holding talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (File - National News Agency)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun holding talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (File - National News Agency)
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Ceasefire Efforts Enter an 'Open-Ended Pause,' Alarming Lebanese

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun holding talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (File - National News Agency)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun holding talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (File - National News Agency)

Lebanese-US efforts to secure a ceasefire have entered a prolonged “open-ended pause,” with no clear indication of when it might end, while the decisive factor remains tied to developments on the ground as the war between Hezbollah and Israel in the south reaches its peak.

 

This has raised concern among political circles tracking the situation, amid fears that the pause could drag on, leaving Lebanon on its own in the absence of any external push to end the war, and opening the door for President Joseph Aoun to call for direct negotiations with Israel to proceed under the cover of a truce that would relieve pressure created by ongoing hostilities from both sides.

 

These circles note that ceasefire efforts remain stalled, colliding with Israel’s insistence on delivering a “decisive blow” to Hezbollah to eliminate its stockpile of heavy rockets. In parallel, they say, the group continues to confront Israel’s ground advance in the south to prevent it from securing deeper control over areas south of the Litani River, amid Israeli threats to destroy what remains of bridges linking the river’s southern and northern banks.

 

Rejection on both sides

 

Sources confirm there is no prospect of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which remains committed to its weapons and is now engaged in what it describes as an “existential battle.” Relinquishing its arms without guarantees, they say, would amount to voluntarily ending its political role.

 

The same position, the sources add, applies to Israel, backed by the US, which will not halt hostilities unless it eliminates Hezbollah’s weapons as part of ending the role of Iran-aligned actors in the region.

 

According to the sources, a ceasefire decision is not supported by either side, Hezbollah or Israel and is fully tied to the trajectory of the broader conflict involving Iran, the US, and Israel. This linkage has stalled Aoun’s call for direct negotiations in the absence of guarantees for a truce. Ending the war in the south, they stress, goes beyond the local arena and is directly connected to the wider confrontation on the Iranian front, making the two fronts inseparable.

 

The sources add that dialogue between Aoun and Hezbollah, for which Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri had helped prepare the ground, remains suspended, as decision-making lies not with the party’s political wing but with its military wing, with which there is no presidential channel. They say Aoun does not bear responsibility for the breakdown, which was triggered by Secretary-General Naim Qassem backing away from a pledge not to intervene militarily in support of Iran.

 

They argue there is no value in dialogue that will not produce results as long as authority rests with a military wing directly linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, even if its leadership seeks to justify this by citing the absence of guarantees. The sources reveal that the group has not received assurances regarding its political future; otherwise, it would not hand over its weapons “for free” to the state while Israel continues its occupation of the south and refuses to commit to the cessation-of-hostilities agreement implemented unilaterally more than a year and three months ago.

 

The same sources say that while the group’s leadership, represented by Qassem, supports Berri’s demand to implement the agreement brokered by France and the US and applied by Lebanon since November 27, 2024, it questions why Washington has stepped back from guarantees ensuring the agreement’s implementation through synchronized steps between Lebanon and Israel.

 

While the group avoids addressing Qassem’s reversal on supporting Iran, the sources say the issue has been settled between the allies and moved past, without dwelling on the stance of ministers aligned with Berri who backed cabinet decisions, in contrast to those aligned with the group who abstained, reflecting its insistence on avoiding a dispute with its only remaining ally.

 

Berri focuses on displaced

 

While Berri is currently focused on supporting efforts led by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s government, in cooperation with civil society and NGOs, to provide shelter and basic needs for displaced people, he is also urging them to comply with security measures to maintain stability and prevent tensions with host communities. He praised local support efforts and stressed that maintaining security and stability is a “red line” to safeguard civil peace.

 

Berri’s prioritization of accommodating displaced populations and preparing for further waves, driven by Israeli pressure through displacement and systematic destruction of homes, has prompted questions among observers as to why he has not reactivated his political role.

 

These circles say the answer ultimately lies with him, noting he was the first to welcome a ceasefire and reject negotiations under pressure. This explains his demand for guarantees on the implementation of any agreement, for which the US bears responsibility, to prevent Lebanon from being drawn into new negotiations without clarity on venue, timing, or agenda, especially when an agreement brokered by France and the US already exists and is overseen by the “mechanism committee” tasked with implementing Resolution 1701, but remains dependent on US follow-through.

 

The sources also pointed to remarks by US Ambassador to Beirut Michael Issa following a meeting with Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rahi, welcoming Aoun’s call for direct negotiations with Israel. They said he effectively acknowledged the initiative but, instead of facilitating it, undermined it by implying it would take place under fire, rather than through US intervention to halt the war and create conditions for negotiations under US sponsorship and guarantees.