FM tells Germany’s Maas ‘all Lebanon’ will be struck if Hezbollah attacks again

After Foreign Minister Israel Katz warns Lebanon would pay a “high price” if Hezbollah attacks Israel, his German counterpart Heiko Maas says Berlin is considering declaring the Lebanese group a terror organization, according to a statement from Katz’s office.

In a phone call between the two, Katz tells Maas that Israel “has no desire to escalate the situation, but is prepared to continue to respond forcefully to any attack against it, and will see Lebanon as solely responsible for that.”

He thanks Maas for Germany’s involvement in the issue, and asks Berlin to convey Israel’s message to Beirut “that the Lebanese government will pay a high price if it doesn’t rein in Hezbollah, allowing more attacks on its part,” according to the Israeli statement to the press. “If you don’t curtail Hezbollah’s activities against Israel, the whole of Lebanon will be struck, and it will be severely hurt,” Katz is quoted as telling Lebanese authorities.

Maas responds that he is worried about yesterday’s developments, in which a Hezbollah cell fired anti-tank missiles at an Israeli military outpost and vehicle on the border, and hopes events don’t escalate.

Katz calls on Germany to sanction the Lebanese terror group. Maas replies, according to the Israeli statement, that “Germany views Hezbollah in Lebanon in a similar way to how Israel views it, and Berlin will soon consider declaring it a terror group.”