2024-02-29 03:36:04
With a visit to Lebanon on Thursday, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) concluded a tour of the Middle East that took him to Israel, Palestine and Jordan. In the capital Beirut, Schallenberg meets not only his counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib, but also Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Chief of General Staff Josef Aoun and the commander of the UN unit UNIFIL, Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz.
The multi-confessional state has been in a constant political crisis for years. The actual power factor is the Shiite Hezbollah, which fights against Israel together with the terrorist organization Hamas. As Israeli army spokesman Arye Shalicar told Austrian journalists on Tuesday, the intensity of the clashes with Hezbollah has recently increased sharply. The militia has a far larger and more dangerous rocket arsenal than Hamas.
180 Bundeswehr soldiers are also deployed as part of UNIFIL. However, the blue helmets have no authority to take military action against Hezbollah. The regular Lebanese army is also considered too weak. During his trip, Schallenberg repeatedly expressed the hope that October 7th would be seen in retrospect as the trigger for a peace solution in the Middle East. In Israel, he urged consideration for civilians in the Gaza Strip and reiterated Austria’s commitment to a two-state solution. In Palestine, he rejected the demand for immediate recognition of the State of Palestine and emphasized that this should only come at the end of the process. Schallenberg wanted to travel back to Vienna on Friday night.
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