Borrell: War in Middle East on Brink of Expanding

European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell arrives to take part in a Summit on Peace in Ukraine at the luxury Burgenstock resort, near Lucerne in central Switzerland, on June 15, 2024. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell arrives to take part in a Summit on Peace in Ukraine at the luxury Burgenstock resort, near Lucerne in central Switzerland, on June 15, 2024. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
TT

Borrell: War in Middle East on Brink of Expanding

European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell arrives to take part in a Summit on Peace in Ukraine at the luxury Burgenstock resort, near Lucerne in central Switzerland, on June 15, 2024. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell arrives to take part in a Summit on Peace in Ukraine at the luxury Burgenstock resort, near Lucerne in central Switzerland, on June 15, 2024. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

European foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday that the Middle East was close to seeing the conflict expanding into Lebanon just days after Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah threatened EU member Cyprus.

"The risk of this war effecting the south of Lebanon and spilling over is every day bigger," Borrell told reporters ahead of a foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg. "We are on the eve of the war expanding."

The head of Lebanon's Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said on Wednesday that nowhere in Israel would be safe if a full-fledged war breaks out between the two foes, and also threatened EU member Cyprus for the first time and other parts of the Mediterranean.

"The Cypriot government must be warned that opening Cypriot airports and bases for the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon means that the Cypriot government has become part of the war and the resistance (Hezbollah) will deal with it as part of the war," Nasrallah added.



Blinken Aims to 'Cross Finish Line' on Gaza Ceasefire, Hostages Deal

A wounded Palestinian boy is carried to Al Aqsa Hospital following an Israeli air strike on Al Bureije refugee camp in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza Strip, 05 January 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
A wounded Palestinian boy is carried to Al Aqsa Hospital following an Israeli air strike on Al Bureije refugee camp in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza Strip, 05 January 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
TT

Blinken Aims to 'Cross Finish Line' on Gaza Ceasefire, Hostages Deal

A wounded Palestinian boy is carried to Al Aqsa Hospital following an Israeli air strike on Al Bureije refugee camp in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza Strip, 05 January 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
A wounded Palestinian boy is carried to Al Aqsa Hospital following an Israeli air strike on Al Bureije refugee camp in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza Strip, 05 January 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that Washington wanted to see a ceasefire deal in Gaza concluded and the hostages brought out in the next two weeks.
A renewed push is under way to reach a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas and return Israeli hostages before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
"We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks, the time we have remaining," Blinken told a press conference in South Korea, when asked whether a ceasefire deal was close.