Brussels – The two-week truce in Iran is welcome; now everyone must work to respect it, including Israel. The leaders of Italy, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Canada, together with the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, are demanding that the State of Israel cease its military operations against Hezbollah. They set this out in the joint statement issued following the agreement reached between the United States and the Islamic Republic.
The document issued by the nine heads of state and government, including the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, welcomes the outcome achieved, which brings commercial certainty, and Pakistan’s mediation efforts. But what characterises the joint statement is the implicit reference to Israel, where it reads: “and we call on all parties to implement the ceasefire, including in Lebanon.” It is this line, with the attached specification, that calls the Tel Aviv government to account, without mentioning it directly.
This line is no coincidence, as Israel’s withdrawal from the region is one of the conditions set out in the 10-point plan currently being negotiated as the basis for the ceasefire, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu having suggested that he considers himself free to continue operating in Lebanon.
“We support these diplomatic efforts,” insist Giorgia Meloni, Mette Fredriksen, Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Rob Jetten, Pedro Sánchez, Keir Starmer, Mark Carney, Ursula von der Leyen, and António Costa. This means that the group of countries, which collectively represent a significant bloc within the EU, G7 and NATO, will not tolerate the progress achieved being undermined. “We are in close contact with the United States and other partners,” states the joint declaration, which sets out the aspirations and position of the mini-bloc: “The goal must now be to negotiate a swift and lasting end to the war within the coming days. This can only be achieved through diplomatic means.”
This is the stance taken by Western leaders, which Israel does not seem willing to heed, given that it bombed Beirut this afternoon. The announcement, reported by Time of Israel, came from the Israeli Defence Minister himself, Israel Katz: “The Israel Defence Forces have carried out a surprise attack against hundreds of Hezbollah terrorists at command centres across Lebanon. This is the heaviest concentrated blow Hezbollah has suffered since Operation Beepers,” that is, the 2024 operation that used explosive pagers. The Lebanese Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, pointed out that “Israel continues to escalate its aggression by targeting densely populated residential areas and killing unarmed civilians in various parts of Lebanon, including, in particular, the capital Beirut”. Salam emphasised that this constitutes a massacre of civilians, thereby refuting claims in Israeli war bulletins that only Hezbollah members were among the casualties. And from Tehran, the Fars news agency has announced reports that Iran has once again blocked the passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz due to Israeli attacks in Lebanon. “In conjunction with the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, the passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz has been blocked,” it states.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
