Scramble

European capitals scramble to avoid Middle East escalation

France, Germany, Italy and the U.K. are reaching out to Middle Eastern counterparts to urge calm.

By Laura Kayali

European leaders and officials are striving to avoid a regional war in the Middle East as a rocket attack that killed 12 children in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights brings tensions to the brink.

Countries including France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom have in the past few days reached out to counterparts in Lebanon, Israel and Iran in efforts to convince them to show restraint.

The stakes are particularly high for Paris and Rome, which have hundreds of troops stationed in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), in the country's southern region where Israel and Hezbollah have frequently exchanged fire in the past month.

On Tuesday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni urged the Israeli government not to fall into the “trap” of retaliation, adding she was “very, very worried” about the situation in Lebanon. Speaking from China, she said Beijing could use its “solid ties” with Iran and Saudi Arabia to help defuse the situation.

The risk of regional conflict significantly increased after the rocket attack, which killed 12 children in the Druze town of Majdal Shams on Saturday. Israel, the U.S. and Germany have attributed the strike to the Lebanese, Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, but the Shia armed organization denied responsibility for the deadly attack. 

After visiting Majdal Shams on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “the state of Israel will not, and cannot, ignore this. Our response will come and it will be severe.”

On Monday, the United States downplayed concerns of an "all-out war" in the region. According to Lebanese media L’Orient Le Jour, Israeli strikes on Beirut or the capital's airport, which is located in a Hezbollah-controlled area, are red lines for Washington. 

Nonetheless, on Tuesday morning the U.K. advised its citizens to leave Lebanon "due to risks associated with the ongoing conflict," with European countries including Germany issuing similar warnings earlier this week. Airlines such as Lufthansa, Greek carrier Aegean Airlines, Air France and Transavia canceled flights to Beirut.

Calls with Iran, Lebanon, Israel

Behind the scenes, European leaders and officials are making frantic phone calls to their regional counterparts — though it remains unclear how much influence they actually have over Israel, Hezbollah and Iran.

And while U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy spoke to Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati earlier this week, it's widely known that the Lebanese government has no control over Hezbollah.

Lammy told the U.K.’s House of Commons Tuesday that he called Mikati “to express my concern about this latest incident.”

“For months now we have been teetering on the brink, the risk of further escalation and regional destabilization is now more acute than ever … we are urging de-escalation of the current crisis,” Lammy said.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who had already spoken with Netanyahu on Sunday, called his Iranian counterpart Massoud Pezeshkian Monday evening to urge Tehran to contribute to the region’s de-escalation. 

The French president “insisted that ... Iran had a role to play in this by ceasing its support for destabilizing actors and calling for restraint,” according to an Elysée readout, adding that France is in contact with “all parties.”  

The Iranian readout of the same phone call stated that “any possible Israeli attack on Lebanon will have serious consequences for Israel.” 

Italy is particularly concerned about its troops in southern Lebanon and has conveyed that message to counterparts in the region.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he asked his Israeli and Lebanese counterparts, Israel Katz and Abdallah Bou Habib, to ensure UNIFIL contingents are protected.

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto repeated Rome's request for a U.N. resolution that would establish "a strip between the Blue Line and the Litani River, without weapons other than those of UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces," which he described as "the only way to prevent a devastating war."

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell also spoke, separately, with Bou Habib. Borrell — a critic of Israel's war on Gaza — discussed with Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit "the need to clarify the causes, to seek ways to de-escalate and avoid a regional war, and to reach a ceasefire in Gaza now."

A Lebanese official told The Associated Press that Hezbollah doesn’t want a full-blown war against Israel but is ready to fight if a conflict erupts. The Iran-backed group started moving smart precision-guided missiles and preparing them for use if needed, the official said.