Josep Borrell warns Middle East headed for ‘full-blown war’

The EU’s Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell has warned the Middle East is heading towards “full-blown war” on the same evening as Israel launched air strikes on Hezbollah’s headquarters in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Speaking to reporters in New York following a UN Security Council session on Gaza, Borrell said he regretted that no power seemed able to “stop” Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that Israel’s prime minister appeared to be determined to crush militants in Lebanon and Gaza at all costs.

“If the interpretation of being destroyed is the same as with Hamas, then we are going to go for a long war,” he was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

Those comments come after the Israeli military announced on Friday night that it hit Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut’s southern suburbs with “very accurate” strikes.

At least two people were killed and dozens were injured in the strike, which sent clouds of orange and black smoke into the sky.

“This targeting confirms one thing. Today all Lebanese people are targeted. The Israeli enemy is not differentiating between military personnel and a civilian,” said local resident, Jad Fayyad.

US media claim that Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the strike, but this has not been confirmed by Israeli officials.

Nasrallah has been in hiding for years, very rarely appearing in public with his speeches usually made by video from unknown locations. It is not known if he was in the building at the time of the attack.

Iran’s embassy in Beirut condemned the strikes, saying they “represent a serious escalation that changes the rules of the game”.

It also said that Israel would be “punished appropriately”.

But in New York during a visit to the United Nations earlier this week, Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian appeared to suggest Tehran was not interested in escalation, saying a wider war in the Middle East “will not benefit anyone”.

In a sign of the significance of the strike, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly cut short a visit to the United States — deciding to return to Israel immediately instead of waiting until the end of Sabbath on Saturday evening as was originally planned.

Israeli politicians do not normally travel on the Sabbath except for matters of great importance.

Hours earlier, Netanyahu vowed that Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah would continue, dashing hopes for an internationally backed cease-fire.

To a degree unseen in past conflicts, Israel this past week has aimed to eliminate Hezbollah’s senior leadership with Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari openly saying the strikes pummelling Lebanon’s capital were targeted towards the main Hezbollah headquarters, located beneath residential buildings.

ADVERTISEMENT

Israel dramatically intensified its airstrikes in Lebanon this week claiming that it was ending the 11 months of Hezbollah fire into its territory.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded almost daily cross-border fire since the war in Gaza started in October last year. Hezbollah says its attacks on Israel will stop when a ceasefire with Hamas is reached.

Although the precise scope of Israel’s operation remains unclear, officials have said a ground invasion to push the militant group away from the border is a possibility.

Adding to this, Israel has moved thousands of troops toward the border this week in preparation.

ADVERTISEMENT

Israel’s strikes this week have killed more than 720 people in Lebanon, including dozens of women and children, according to statistics collected by the Health Ministry.