Austrian FM Urges Israel, Hezbollah Against Escalating the Conflict

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib, right, meets with his Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib, right, meets with his Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Austrian FM Urges Israel, Hezbollah Against Escalating the Conflict

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib, right, meets with his Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib, right, meets with his Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Austria’s foreign minister on Thursday urged Israel and Hezbollah against escalating the conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border.
The Middle East has witnessed enough devastation and cruelty, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said after meeting his Lebanese counterpart in Beirut.
Schallenberg said he came to Lebanon after visiting Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Since the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct. 7, Hezbollah started attacking Israeli posts, drawing return fire from Israel in daily exchanges. More than 210 Hezbollah fighters and nearly 40 civilians have been killed since then on the Lebanese side.
In Israel, nine soldiers and nine civilians have been killed in Hezbollah attacks since Oct. 7.
“Everybody is asked not to escalate and it always takes two sides,” Schallenberg said.
“The region has accounted enough devastation, enough cruelty and we should try to solve the problems and not create further problems,” he added.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib called for a deal for a disputed stretch of the Israel-Lebanon border, similar to the deal reached through US mediation in 2022 over the two countries' disputed maritime border. He said the problem can be solved when Israel withdraws from disputed areas, including Shebaa Farms, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967.
“Israel would return all the Lebanese land to us and then the problem of Hezbollah and Israel will be at least partly solved,” Bouhabib said.



Migrant Boat Sinks off Tunisia with at Least Eight Dead, 29 Rescued

Representation photo: Refugees and migrants are rescued by members of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms in the Mediterranean Sea on Nov. 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Sergi Camara, File)
Representation photo: Refugees and migrants are rescued by members of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms in the Mediterranean Sea on Nov. 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Sergi Camara, File)
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Migrant Boat Sinks off Tunisia with at Least Eight Dead, 29 Rescued

Representation photo: Refugees and migrants are rescued by members of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms in the Mediterranean Sea on Nov. 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Sergi Camara, File)
Representation photo: Refugees and migrants are rescued by members of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms in the Mediterranean Sea on Nov. 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Sergi Camara, File)

Tunisia's coast guard on Monday recovered the bodies of eight African migrants after their boat sank off the country's coast as it sailed towards Europe, a security official told Reuters, adding that 29 other people were rescued.

The boat sank in waters off the city of Abwabed near Sfax, a departure point often used by African migrants.

Search operations were underway for possible missing persons, said Houssem Eddine Jebabli, an official in the national guard.

Tunisia is grappling with an unprecedented migration crisis and has replaced Libya as a major departure point for both Tunisians and others in Africa seeking a better life in Europe.