The European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Saturday warned against a regional conflict that would involve Lebanon, as border clashes intensified nearly three months into Israel's war with Hezbollah ally Hamas.
"It is imperative to avoid regional escalation in the Middle East. It is absolutely necessary to avoid Lebanon being dragged into a regional conflict," Josep Borrell said during a press conference in Beirut with Lebanon's foreign minister.
"I am sending this message to Israel too: nobody will win from a regional conflict," he added.
Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily cross-border fire since Hamas's 7 October attack on southern Israel, which triggered the war.
But a strike in Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold that killed Hamas's deputy leader, Saleh al-Arouri, on Tuesday intensified fears of a wider conflagration.
Diplomatic channels must remain open
A US Defense Department official, who requested not to be identified by name, has told French news agency AFP that Israel carried out the strike that killed Arouri. Israel has not claimed responsibility.
The Lebanese group on Saturday said it retaliated by launching dozens of rockets at a northern Israeli base. Israel's army said it identified around 40 rocket launches from Lebanese territory, and struck a cell responsible for some of them.
"I think that the war can be prevented, has to be avoided and diplomacy can prevail," Borrell told reporters.
"Diplomatic channels have to be open to signal that the war is not the only option but it is the worst option," he said.
Earlier Saturday, Borrell met Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, United Nations peacekeeping force (UNIFIL) commander Aroldo Lazaro and the influential speaker of parliament Nabih Berri.
His visit is part of a push by Western diplomats to avoid further regional escalation, especially on the Lebanon-Israel border, and call for a solution to the Gaza war.
Escalation
After his meeting with Borrell, Mikati warned that "any large-scale escalation in south Lebanon could push the region to completely explode".
On Wednesday, Borrell had warned Arouri's killing could "cause an escalation of the conflict", and urged the international community to "impose" a solution for lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Nearly three months of cross-border fire have killed more than 175 people in Lebanon, including 130 Hezbollah fighters but also more than 20 civilians, including three journalists, according to an AFP tally.
In northern Israel, nine soldiers and at least four civilians have been killed, according to Israeli authorities.
US on fourth regional visit
In a further diplomatic push, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the Israel-Hamas war with Turkey's leader on Saturday before flying to Crete to address Greek concerns about the looming sale of US fighter jets to Ankara.
His high-stakes meeting with one of Washington's most unruly NATO allies came on the first leg of a trip that includes visits to Israel and West Bank - his fourth visit to the region in three months.
The State Department said Blinken "emphasised the need to prevent the conflict from spreading" during more than an hour of talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Blinken stressed the need to "work toward broader, lasting regional peace that ensures Israel's security and advances the establishment of a Palestinian state," the State Department said.
(with AFP)
