Germany cites ‘urgent need for concrete measures in Mideast to defuse the situation’

Germany says there is an “urgent need” for measures to calm tensions in the Middle East as Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza threatens to spread to Lebanon following nearly a year of cross-border skirmishes with Hezbollah.

Attacks carried out by Israel or blamed on the country, including airstrikes and the explosions of hand-held communications devices distributed to members of the Lebanese terror group, have killed dozens and injured thousands in Lebanon since Tuesday.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in near-daily fighting since the former began attacking Israeli communities and military posts a day after its ally Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.

“We have an urgent need for concrete measures in the Middle East to defuse the situation and avoid more civilian victims,” the German foreign ministry writes on X.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has been in contact with her Israeli and Lebanese counterparts to discuss the next steps, it adds.

The German federal government says it’s “deeply concerned” by the recent escalation in the region but adds that it’s not “inevitable.”

“A diplomatic solution to the conflict must be possible,” government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit says in a statement.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s office warns that a regional conflagration would “have terrible and lasting consequences for the populations of the whole region,” resulting in “catastrophic” destruction.