The UK and several EU countries on Thursday condemned a wave of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon that came after a truce agreement between the US and Iran, which Iran and its proxy Hezbollah said also applied to Lebanon, but the US and Israel said did not.
British Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper told Sky News: “We do want to see the ceasefire extended to Lebanon,” adding: “I’m deeply troubled about the escalating attacks that we saw from Israel in Lebanon yesterday.
“We’ve seen the humanitarian consequences, the huge mass displacement of people in Lebanon. So we do strongly want to see the ceasefire extended to Lebanon,” she added.
Speaking to Times Radio, Cooper said that if the truce is not applied to the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, “that will destabilize the whole region.”
“That escalation that we saw from Israel yesterday was deeply damaging, and we want to see an end to hostilities,” she said.
Israel said Wednesday’s airstrikes were planned for weeks and targeted the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group. Among those killed was Ali Yusuf Harshi, the personal secretary and nephew of the terror group’s leader, Naim Qassem. Harshi was killed in Beirut’s Tallet Khayat neighborhood.
Among other targets, the IDF said, were Hezbollah command centers and other military infrastructure, including intelligence headquarters and offices used by Hezbollah to plan attacks on IDF troops and Israeli civilians; infrastructure of Hezbollah’s rocket and naval units; and assets of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force and aerial unit.
The wave of strikes — Israel’s largest since Hezbollah joined the war on March 2 by renewing its attacks on the Jewish state — killed some 182 people, according to a toll from Lebanon’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Israel said the strikes targeted “hundreds” of Hezbollah operatives.
Cooper’s comments came as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in the United Arab Emirates on the second leg of a visit to the Gulf to meet with regional leaders in an effort to bolster the ceasefire, which was announced overnight Tuesday-Wednesday.
Iran and Hezbollah claimed the truce applied to Lebanon, but the US and Israel rejected that assertion.
Starmer on Wednesday met Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in Jeddah.
“The prime minister began by welcoming the ceasefire and set out how efforts must now be focused on upholding it and turning it into a lasting peace,” a Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement.
“He was clear that it was vital now to continue work to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and discussed the UK’s ongoing efforts to convene partners to agree and plan the practical steps required to give shipping the confidence to transit the Strait,” the spokesperson added.
French FM: Israeli strikes ‘undermine’ US-Iran ceasefire
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, speaking to France Inter radio, called the Israeli strikes in Lebanon “unacceptable,” saying they “undermine the temporary ceasefire reached yesterday between the United States and Iran.”
Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron said that he spoke with both Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and US President Donald Trump, and told them their decision to accept a ceasefire was the best possible one.
“I expressed my hope that the ceasefire will be fully respected by each of the belligerents, across all areas of confrontation, including in Lebanon,” Macron said in a post on X.
Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares, meanwhile, accused Israel of violating international law and the ceasefire.
“Yesterday we saw how Israel, flouting the ceasefire and in violation of international law, dropped hundreds of bombs on Lebanon,” Albares told lawmakers in the country’s lower house.
Earlier Thursday, Albares announced that Spain would reopen its embassy in Tehran in hopes of achieving peace in the region.
“I’ve instructed our ambassador in Tehran to return, to take up his post again and reopen our embassy, and for us to join in this effort for peace from every possible quarter, including from the Iranian capital itself,” he told reporters.
Italy decries ‘bombings on the Lebanese civilian population’
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that Israel had “disrespected” the two-week ceasefire with Iran by carrying out the strikes, according to Reuters.
“We have come within a step of the point of no return, but we now face a fragile prospect of peace that must be pursued with determination,” Meloni told parliament, adding that Italy condemned any violation of the ceasefire and was calling for a permanent halt to hostilities.
The country’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote on X Wednesday evening that he’d spoken by phone with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, and “expressed the solidarity of the Italian Government for the unjustified and unacceptable attacks he is suffering from Israel.”
“We want to avoid there being a second Gaza,” Tajani posted, referring to Israel’s campaign against Hamas following the terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught. “We will reiterate this concept to the Israeli Ambassador as well, whom I have summoned to the Farnesina [the Italian foreign ministry’s headquarters].”
“We condemn the bombings on the Lebanese civilian population, including the gunfire incidents suffered by our UNIFIL troops, for which we continue to demand guarantees of total safety,” he wrote. Israeli forces fired warning shots at a convoy of Italian UN peacekeepers in Lebanon on Wednesday, damaging at least one vehicle but causing no injuries.
“We must absolutely avoid any further expansion of the conflict that would jeopardize the ceasefire in Iran and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz,” Tajani added.
The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said Thursday that the ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran should extend to Lebanon, and that Hezbollah must disarm.
“Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the war, but Israel’s right to defend itself does not justify inflicting such massive destruction,” she wrote in a post on X. “Israeli actions are putting the US-Iran ceasefire under severe strain. The Iran truce should extend to Lebanon.
“Israeli strikes killed hundreds last night, making it hard to argue that such heavy-handed actions fall within self-defence,” Kallas added.
China: Lebanon’s sovereignty ‘should not be violated’
The Chinese foreign ministry also said that Lebanon’s sovereignty “should not be violated,” adding that “the safety of civilian lives and property must be guaranteed.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular press conference that Beijing urged restraint and “a cooling down of the regional situation.”
She said China hopes the “relevant parties can grasp this chance at peace and bring the region back to stability as soon as possible”
