Concern about the Middle East war - Lebanon fears Israeli retaliation
In anticipation of an Israeli retaliatory strike following the deadly rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the German government has once again urged all Germans in Lebanon to leave the country. A harsh Israeli reaction is expected after twelve children and teenagers were killed in a rocket attack on the town of Majdal Shams on Saturday, which is attributed to the Shia militia Hezbollah.
Israel's security cabinet empowered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Joav Galant to decide on further action against Hezbollah in Lebanon late on Sunday evening, as announced by the Prime Minister's Office.
Netanyahu visited the site of the deadly incident, where members of the Druze religious community live. He said, "The victims are our children." Israel cannot return to normalcy after the rocket attack. "Our response will come, and it will be harsh," said the 74-year-old. The Druze are a religious community that emerged from Shia Islam and live mainly in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan today.
It was reported from Hezbollah circles that the militia is on full alert. If there is an attack, it will strike back.
Out of fear of escalation, the Lebanese airline Middle East Airlines postponed the return of some of its flights in the evening. The Lufthansa Group announced that it is temporarily suspending its flights to the Lebanese capital Beirut. Flights by Swiss, Lufthansa, and Eurowings are affected until Monday, August 5th. Jordan's Petra news agency reported that the national airline Royal Jordanian Airline is suspending its flights to Beirut until Tuesday.
In view of the deterioration of the situation, the German government has again called on all German citizens in Lebanon to leave the country. There are still 1,300 people with German citizenship registered on the emergency preparedness list Elefand who are staying in Lebanon, said a spokesperson for the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. "We have had a travel warning and an exit recommendation for Lebanon since October 2023," they added.
International diplomats are trying to calm the situation. US officials have contacted their counterparts in Israel and Lebanon, as well as exchanged messages with Iran, to try to de-escalate the situation, according to the US newspaper "Wall Street Journal," citing Arab and European officials familiar with the matter. All sides have indicated that they are not interested in escalating the conflict.
Two dead in Israeli attack in Lebanon
Meanwhile, Lebanese state media reported that two people were killed in an Israeli attack in Lebanon overnight on Monday. The state news agency NNA reported that there were also injuries, including a minor who was on a balcony in a nearby building at the time of the attack.
Israel and the USA blame the Iran-linked Shia militia Hezbollah for the attack on Majdal Shams. The victims were children and teenagers aged 10 to 16, according to consistent Israeli media reports. "This attack was carried out by Lebanese Hezbollah. It was a Hezbollah rocket fired from an area under its control," said Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the US National Security Council.
Hizbollah stated in a declaration that it had nothing to do with the attack. According to the US news portal "Axios", the militia reportedly told the United Nations that an Israeli defense missile caused the explosion. Iran also blamed Israel itself for the attack in Majdal Shams. However, Israel's Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said at the impact site that it was a Falak rocket from Hizbollah.
The Golan Heights is a strategically important rocky plateau. In the Six-Day War in 1967, the area was captured by Israel and annexed in 1981, but this was not internationally recognized. The spokesperson for the National Security Council said that the US government is in contact with both the Israeli and Lebanese sides following the attack. The US support for Israel's security is firm and unwavering, it was stated.
The rocket attack on the Golan occurred at a critical time for efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza war. An escalation between Israel and Hizbollah could disrupt the indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, which have been ongoing for months with Qatar, Egypt, and the US as mediators. Israel's chief negotiator David Barnea had just returned from a recent round of talks in Rome over the weekend. The talks will continue in the coming days, the Prime Minister's Office said without providing details.
Erdogan and Israel exchange threats
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened Israel with military intervention. "Just like we intervened in Nagorno-Karabakh, just like we intervened in Libya, we will do the same with them," he said at an event of his ruling AKP party in Rize on the Black Sea, referring to Israel. Erdogan was referring to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, where he supported the conflict party Azerbaijan with drones, among other things. In the civil war-torn Libya, Ankara supports the internationally recognized government with military equipment and personnel.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz promptly warned the Turkish president: "Erdogan is following in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein and threatening an attack on Israel. He should remember what happened there and how it ended," Katz wrote late in the evening on the X platform. In 2003, US troops invaded Iraq, leading to the overthrow of the then Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Three years later, Hussein was executed for mass killings of Kurds and Shiites.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war, relations between Israel and Turkey have deteriorated dramatically. Erdogan called Hamas a "resistance organization" and compared Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler. In mid-July, Erdogan said that his country would no longer approve of cooperation between NATO and the partner Israel until lasting peace is achieved in the Palestinian territories.
The German government had previously urged Germans in Lebanon to leave due to the tense situation, and now, following the escalation and the issue becoming more critical, they have once again called for all German citizens in Lebanon to depart the country.
In light of Germany's renewed call for its citizens to leave Lebanon, the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin stated that there are still 1,300 people with German citizenship registered on the emergency preparedness list Elefand who are staying in Lebanon.
