EU’s Borrell urges greater pressure on Israel and Hezbollah

EU foreign policy chief EU chief Josep Borrell has called for more pressure to be put on Israel and Hezbollah to achieve a ceasefire during a visit to the Lebanese capital.

“Met w/ caretaker PM Najib Mikati to discuss the urgent key steps to stop the conflict,” he wrote on X on Sunday.

“Need to increase pressure on Israel & Hezbollah to agree to the US proposal for a ceasefire,” Borrell added.

“The Israeli army has erased 37 entire villages in South Lebanon & continues to drop 1-ton bombs on central Beirut,” he asserted. This must stop, as must Hezbollah’s attacks on Israeli communities, Borrell added.

Without a ceasefire, neither Israelis nor the internally displaced persons in Lebanon would be able to return to their homes, Borrell wrote on X after his talks with the Lebanese leadership.

Borrell met with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a confidant of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia.

The US has been pushing for a ceasefire between the Shiite militia and Israel for weeks. Its mediator, Amos Hochstein, travelled to Lebanon and Israel again this week for negotiations.