BEIRUT: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned on Wednesday that “Lebanon is on the brink of collapse” as she arrived in the war-torn country for a visit.
As Israel clashes with militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, she also said that “any deliberate attack on UN peacekeepers violates international humanitarian law.”
Baerbock was on her 12th trip to the Middle East since the Hamas attack of October 7 last year set off Israel’s war in Gaza and now against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“The humanitarian situation in Lebanon is becoming more desperate by the day,” she said at the start of her trip, which Berlin had not previously announced because of security concerns.
“Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing with their last belongings, children are being separated from their parents, hospitals are working at the limit of their capacity.
“Lebanon is on the brink of collapse.”
She said Hamas allies Hezbollah are “hiding behind civilians and continuing to fire rockets at Israel” but also cautioned that Israel must operate within “the narrow limits of the right to self-defense and international humanitarian law.”
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon has accused Israel of attacking its peacekeepers multiple times in recent weeks.
“All parties to the conflict also have an obligation to protect UN peacekeepers,” said Baerbock. “The soldiers of UNIFIL have our full support. They are needed for a political solution to the conflict.
“Any deliberate attack on UN peacekeepers violates international humanitarian law.”
The war in Gaza began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed 42,718 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the UN considers reliable.
Israel shifted its focus to Lebanon in late September, vowing to secure its northern border under fire from Hezbollah.
Baerbock urged efforts involving the United States, Europe and the Arab world “to develop a viable diplomatic solution that protects the legitimate security interests of Israel and Lebanon.”
German foreign minister warns Lebanon ‘on brink of collapse’
https://arab.news/6bn2k
German foreign minister warns Lebanon ‘on brink of collapse’
- Annalena Baerbock said the task was to find a viable diplomatic solution between Israel and Lebanon
Over 3,000 migrants died in 2025 trying to reach Spain: aid group
- More than 3,000 migrants died while trying to reach Spain this year, a report released by a Spanish migration rights group said on Monday
MADRID: More than 3,000 migrants died while trying to reach Spain this year, a report released by a Spanish migration rights group said on Monday, a sharp decline from 2024 as the number of attempted crossings fell.
Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) said most of the 3,090 deaths recorded until December 15 took place on the Atlantic migration route from Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands, considered one of the world’s most dangerous.
While there has been a “significant” decrease in migrant arrivals in the Canaries, “a new, more distant and more dangerous” route to the archipelago has emerged with departures from Guinea, it said.
The group compiles its figures from families of migrants and official statistics of those rescued. It included 437 children and 192 women among the dead.
Caminando Fronteras also noted there had been a rise in the number of boats leaving from Algeria, mainly to the holiday islands of Ibiza and Formentera in the Mediterranean.
Traditionally used by Algerians, the route is seeing a surge of migrants from Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan in 2025, the group said.
The number of deaths on this route had doubled this year to 1,037 when compared to 2024, it added.
At least 10,457 migrants died or disappeared while trying to reach Spain by sea in 2024, according to Caminando Fronteras, the highest number recorded since it began tracking data in 2007.
Spain’s interior ministry says 35,935 migrants reached Spain until December 15 this year, a 40-percent decrease from the same period last year.
Nearly half of them came through the Atlantic migration route from the coast of West Africa to the Canary Islands.
