Baerbock: Arab states must call on Hamas to lay down its arms
In addition, the Arab countries must "use their channels of communication to get the hostages released", Baerbock continued. "And the Arab countries must clearly call on Hamas to lay down its weapons so that Israel is not forced to continue defending itself on such a massive scale."
The Minister pointed out that Israel was being attacked from three directions on a daily basis: by the Palestinian organization Hamas, by the Houthi rebels in Yemen and by the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon. "The situation on the border between Lebanon and Israel is a dangerous powder keg," said Baerbock. She condemned Hezbollah's violence "in the strongest terms".
Hezbollah is positioning its fighters directly on the Israeli border and firing rockets at Israel, said Baerbock. The militia is abusing the people on the Lebanese side as a shield, "hiding itself and its weapons in farms and homes" and declaring areas as private territory so that neither the Lebanese army nor the UN mission Unifil have access to them, Baerbock continued.
The aim of Unifil is to monitor the ceasefire on the Israeli-Lebanese border. German soldiers are also involved in the UN mission - according to Baerbock, there are currently 200 of them.
The major Hamas attack on Israel more than two months ago had led to a significant increase in tensions in the Israeli-Lebanese border area. There have been repeated attacks between Israeli troops and the Iranian-backed Shiite Hezbollah militia.
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Source: www.stern.de
