<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, yesterday participated in an extraordinary meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) to address the growing escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, in which he called for “a ceasefire in Lebanon” and for “the restraint of all to stop the escalation of violence in the Middle East”.</strong></h4> “Spain calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon and for everyone to show restraint to stop the escalation of violence in the Middle East,” Albares said at the end of the meeting, via the social network X. “We must protect Lebanese civilians. Peace is our goal,” he added. At the end of the meeting, held by videoconference, the Member States of the European Union called for an immediate ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel and asked both parties to “ensure a safe return of the displaced population” and to increase humanitarian aid. “We ask the parties in the region to show restraint in the interest of de-escalation,” declared the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell, in the press conference after the meeting. “The sovereignty of Israel and Lebanon must be guaranteed and any additional military intervention would dramatically aggravate the situation and must be avoided,” he continued, referring to a possible Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon. “Once again, I urge respect for international humanitarian law. “The guns must be silenced and the voice of diplomacy raised for all the world to hear,” he continued. He therefore announced that he had requested, on behalf of the 27, an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council and demanded, on behalf of the EU, “the full and symmetrical implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701”, adopted in 2006 and calling for a permanent ceasefire. <h5><strong>The Spanish colony and recommendations for travellers</strong></h5> Early in the morning, José Manuel Albares expressed, during an interview with Catalunya Ràdio, his “great concern about the situation in Lebanon and the Middle East” and warned of the importance of Spain and the EU leading a position of peace and respect for International Humanitarian Law, since, he said, there is a certain “frustration in the Arab world” in the face of “the impunity” with which violence spreads without “anyone seeming to be able to do anything”. According to the minister, Spain has “a fluid relationship with Israel”, but “International Law is binding on everyone” and the resolutions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the war in Gaza “are binding on everyone, including Israel”. Albares also assured that the Ministry is “permanently monitoring the Spanish colony in the country” and specified that an email has been sent to the thousand Spanish residents in Lebanon - and registered by the Spanish Embassy in Lebanon - to confirm their address and telephone number in order to be able to contact them in case the evacuation plan is activated, which is already prepared “for the moment when it has to be done”. According to the head of diplomacy, the Spanish residents abroad “are protected under any circumstances”, as was evident during the evacuation operations in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Niger, Sudan, Tel Aviv or Gaza. The minister reiterated the recommendations of his Department for the Spanish who are in Lebanon, especially those who are in transit for tourism or work, to leave the country as soon as possible through the commercial routes that are still open. “We have been telling the Spanish people in Lebanon for some time now that they should leave the country by commercial means,” said the minister, who added that there is still one airline, Middle East Airlines, which operates three flights a week to Madrid. In addition, there is the possibility of leaving by boat to Cyprus, Turkey or Greece. Albares also sent a “message of solidarity and affection” to the nearly 700 Spanish soldiers stationed on the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon, within the framework of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), for their “invaluable work in favour of peace and the defence of International Law.” In fact, the spokesman for the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, Stéphane Dujarric, announced yesterday from New York that the activities of the UNIFIL have been suspended in view of the intensification of the fighting and the Israeli bombings. “UNIFIL’s ‘blue helmets’ are maintaining their positions in the mission’s area of responsibility, although the intensity of the fighting is hampering their movements and their ability to carry out their tasks,” the spokesman said. UNIFIL has more than 10,000 troops from 50 countries and has been commanded since February 2022 by Spanish Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro.
