The US government has urged others to send a message to Iran through diplomatic channels that escalation in the Middle East would not be in its interest, a State Department spokesman said Monday, while US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called the current situation “critical.” moment” for the region.
Mr Blinken assured that Washington had engaged in “intense diplomatic efforts, day and night” to de-escalate tensions, amid concern over Tehran’s alleged retaliation against Israel following the assassination of the Hamas leader. Ismail Haniya last week.
“All parties must refrain from escalation,” Mr Blinken said during a meeting with his Australian counterpart Penny Wong in the US capital.
“All parties must take steps to ease tensions. Escalation is in no one’s interest. It will lead to more conflict, more violence, more insecurity.”
Iran, which blamed Israel for the killing of Ismail Haniya last Wednesday, is warning that there will be “severe punishment” by the Jewish state for the killing of Hamas leader and senior Lebanese Hezbollah official Fouad Shoukr in an Israeli airstrike. in Beirut last Tuesday.
Officially, Israel has not claimed responsibility for the killing of Ismail Haniya, but it has vowed to wipe out Hamas after the Palestinian Islamist movement’s military arm carried out an unprecedented raid on southern areas of its territory on October 7, triggering the devastating war. in the Gaza Strip.
Biden and Harris were briefed
Yesterday US President Joe Biden and his Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed by their national security team on developments, particularly the threats posed by Iran and its allies to US military personnel in the region, according to the US presidency.
They were briefed on the attack on Al Asad Air Base in Iraq and the measures being considered to protect members of the US armed forces and respond to any attack. At least five US servicemen were injured in the rocket attack on her? base, a US official told Reuters news agency.
It was emphasized to them that it is still “unclear” if, when and how Iran and Hezbollah will attack Israel. They were also briefed on the US military’s moves to support Israel’s defense in the event that it becomes the target of an attack. And also, for the diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the tension in the region and the — still deadlocked — efforts to agree a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas, always according to the services of the American presidency.
Mr Blinken spoke earlier yesterday with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani and his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelati.
In his remarks in Washington, Mr. Blinken again called on the parties to “break this cycle” of violence and strike a cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip — despite the killing of Ismail Haniya, a key player in the indirect negotiations. “It is urgent for the parties to make the right choices in the hours and days to come,” he stressed, calling on them to conclude an agreement and not “look for ways to delay or refuse.”
Abbas sees Israel’s attempt to continue the war in Gaza behind the Haniya assassination
The killing of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniya last Wednesday in Tehran was aimed at prolonging the war in the Gaza Strip and complicating talks to resolve the conflict, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told the Russian news agency. RIA news.
“There is no doubt that the purpose of the assassination” of the leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement “was to prolong and expand the war” in the Middle East, Mr. Abbas said, according to RIA.
“It will have a negative impact on the ongoing negotiations to end the offensive and withdraw Israeli troops from Gaza,” he added. “We consider this a cowardly action and a dangerous development in Israeli politics,” Mahmoud Abbas told RIA.
“The Israeli occupation authorities must abandon their ambitions and end their attack on our people and our cause, comply with international law and implement the Arab peace initiative, as well as an immediate and lasting ceasefire and withdrawal (of their armed forces) from the Gaza Strip,” he ruled.
Germany ready for mass evacuation of citizens
The German armed forces are preparing for a “large-scale” operation to quickly remove German citizens from Lebanon and the wider Middle East, as Berlin believes Iran is set to retaliate against Israel within the week, Der Spiegel magazine and the German news agency reported.
More than 2,000 Germans are believed to be currently in Lebanon. According to the magazine, government experts are confident that Hezbollah will launch a massive attack on Israel from Lebanon as well, and believe that it would be extremely difficult to stop the conflict from spreading since Israel would likely retaliate.
The planning of the German Ministry of Defense for the operation to rescue the Germans in Lebanon includes A400M transport aircraft, with the crews being ready for days in Lower Saxony in order to pick up nationals of the country from Beirut, transport them to Cyprus and return in Lebanon, to repeat the process as many times as necessary.
According to the federal government, it is estimated that more than 2,000 Germans are still in Lebanon. There are 2,100 names on the State Department’s emergency list, but the relevant agencies estimate that there are many who have not yet registered.
Many remain in Lebanon
Spiegel reports that the ministry expressed frustration that few took seriously the directive to leave Lebanon immediately by commercial flights. If they need to be rescued by the Bundeswehr, they will then be asked to pay the -high- cost, explains Spiegel.
The magazine also claims that the operators of the operation express their concern about the possibility that, in the event of an emergency, the airport of Beirut will be immediately closed or bombed by Israel. In this case, “receiving those in need of protection with transport aircraft would be (…) practically impossible”, it is pointed out.
The German government’s “Plan B” provides for an expedited evacuation by sea of Germans in Lebanon. In this case, the frigate Hamburg, which is en route to the Red Sea as part of the European Union’s international maritime security operation (“Shields”), could be activated. The warship is currently in waters south of Greece.
In the most recent Israel-Hezbollah war (in 2006), the federal government had rushed many Germans out of Lebanon via Syria – but that option no longer exists, after 2011.
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