German foreign minister: UN mission in Lebanon should be strengthened

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock sees an even stronger role for the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, despite the repeated shelling of UN blue helmets by Israeli forces.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) plays a decisive role in ensuring "that Hezbollah will no longer use violence against Israel" and that people in northern Israel and Lebanon can return to their villages and towns, Baerbock said on Tuesday in Berlin during a press conference with her North Macedonian counterpart, Timčo Mucunski.

Baerbock noted that Israel's government has repeatedly called on the international community to implement UN Resolution 1701, which prohibits the presence of the armed figthers from the Lebanese Hezbollah Islamist movement in the border area with Israel.

The resolution, adopted by the UN Security Council in 2006, also demanded that Israeli troops leave southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is both a major political force in Lebanon and a heavily armed militant group.

Baerbock said that the Israeli military, which has advanced back into southern Lebanon in recent weeks, must withdraw behind the Lebanese-Israeli border, also known as the Blue Line.

Baerbock said that UNIFIL would have to "carry out its tasks even more strongly and consciously" in future.

That is why the mission must not be shot at but, on the contrary, must be protected, she said.

Baerbock accused Hezbollah of having extensively entrenched military positions within civilian infrastructure, and using those positions to launch attacks on Israel.

Israel's right to self-defence also means "that these Hezbollah terrorist sites must be eliminated," said Baerbock.

The European Union considers Hezbollah a terrorist group, as do the United States and Israel.

Baerbock added that Israeli military actions to destroy Hezbollah positions must be carried out within the framework of international humanitarian law.