Lebanon: Press remarks by High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell after at the International Conference in Paris

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Well, this conference was not only about humanitarian support to the people of Lebanon, it is also [about] full support to the Lebanese nation in order to restore its sovereignty and support [to] all its institutions.

Lebanese people are suffering a lot today due to the Israeli attacks as an answer to the Hezbollah attacks. This is creating an unbearable amount of civilian casualties and a total destruction of the country.

I think there is no proportionality between the attacks and the casualties. Civilians, 2.400 people, being killed; 1.2 million displaced people, among them 400.000 children. The country is under great stress. So, this has to end.

We presented seven points today.

The first point is the ceasefire. If there is no ceasefire, nothing else will work - but in order to have a ceasefire, we need to fight against impunity. To urge all actors in the zone to respect international law. The number of collateral damage among the civilian population in Lebanon has to be taken into account. It is not the case.

Secondly, the Lebanese parties, Lebanese political leadership have to take their responsibility and they have to elect the President. If they do not elect the President in order to make the country work, nothing will be solved.

Third, [we need to] reinforce the presence of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and condemn the attacks against UNIFIL. We know who is attacking UNIFIL. I have been watching videos where it is clear that the Israeli Defence Forces are attacking UNIFIL. This is completely unacceptable. Everybody agreed on supporting UNIFIL and rejecting the attacks.

Fourth, the Lebanese army. The Lebanese army has to be reinforced. Once the ceasefire [is in place], the Lebanese army has to be deployed in the south. We have been listening to the plans of the Lebanese army to increase by 6,000 the number of their troops.

But we have to provide them with support. We, as the European Union, will give this year [€] 20 million, next year [€] 40 million to the Lebanese army. From the point of view of humanitarian support, almost €80 million will be donated for humanitarian support alone.

But the Lebanese army needs a lot of support, if we want them to be able to safeguard the borders and the sovereignty of their country. They have to be more, better trained and better equipped.

So, the Lebanese army, UNIFIL, the election of the President, the ceasefire and preparing an economic support plan for when the President will be elected - in order to give an incentive for the political class in Lebanon to take their responsibilities.

Q. What is your message against the 8.000 missiles from the Hezbollah that fell on Israel last week?

Yes, certainly. We condemn Hezbollah's attacks against Israel, certainly. We also are very much aware of the role that Iran is playing in the story. There is a strong link between the war in Lebanon and the war in Gaza and there is a strong link between Hezbollah and Iran. We are very well aware of that. We condemn and we regret that 60,000 Israeli people had to leave their communities. There are 60,000 in one side and 1.2 million in the other side. So we take that into consideration.

Q. What about the utility of the UNIFIL?

The utility of the UNIFIL? UNIFIL has a mandate. If you want UNIFIL to do a different thing, you have to change the mandate. But UNIFIL is doing what it has been asked to do. You cannot ask for a palm tree to produce peaches. If you want to change the mandate of UNIFIL, the [Security Council of the] United Nations has to do it. In the meantime, UNIFIL is doing its work.

Q. Monsieur Borrel, justement, pour le renforcement, vous avez parlé du renforcement de la Force intérimaire des Nations unies (FINUL). Est-ce que l'idée du déploiement des forces multinationales au-delà des contingents qui sont actuellement au sud du Liban est une idée qui vous paraît concevable ?

Il faut, excusez-moi, il faut faire fonctionner ce qu'on a. On a 10.000 hommes déployés dans la frontière. On pourrait en avoir 15.000, parce que 15.000, c'est le nombre autorisé pour la FINUL. Je pense qu'il faut explorer toutes les possibilités pour que la FINUL soit plus opérationnelle, dans le cadre de son mandat. On peut très bien demander à la FINUL d['en] faire plus, mais il faut [le] lui demander. J'ai visité la FINUL et on m'a dit : "On fait ce qu'on nous demande de faire. Si on nous demande de faire autre chose, on la fera." On peut augmenter [de] 50 % le nombre de soldats de la FINUL, donc faisons ce qui est possible. N'inventons pas la roue tous les jours. S'il y a d'autres idées, [elles sont les] bienvenues. Mais, moi, je suis quelqu'un de très pratique. Si on a 10.000 hommes et [qu'] on peut en avoir 15.000, alors, utilisons-les avant de chercher des solutions qui seront toujours plus difficiles de mettre en pratique.

Q. What is your message to the international community, given this growing number of victims among the civilians in Lebanon, without anybody able to stop this massacre today?

The number of civilian casualties in Lebanon is unbearable. I am talking about proportionality. Certainly, Israel has the right to defend against Hezbollah's attacks, but every right has a limit. And the limit is international law. The collateral damages that you create on civilian population - 2.400 people being killed - is certainly not showing proportionality. The country has to be respected, Lebanese people are not all of them members of Hezbollah. So, the international community has to put pressure in order to get a ceasefire. Everybody agreed on that today: a ceasefire. Without a ceasefire, nothing will be possible - but in order to get a ceasefire, you have to combine persuasion with constraint. You have to put an end to the impunity.
Q. [inaudible] How can we end it? Is the leader ready to think that this will be finished early or that it will be too long?

Everybody wants this to finish quickly, because every day there is a great toll of civilian casualties. Every day the toll is increasing. We have 400.000 children out of school and 1.2 million people, which is 20% of the Lebanese population - out of their houses. And most of their houses have been destroyed, so they will have nothing to go back to when the ceasefire comes. The international community has to put diplomatic pressure. And that's what everybody is doing. Unhappily, there was an agreement in September - well, if not an agreement, something that could be an agreement. It was not reached at the end. Now the only thing that we can do is what we do at the European Union level, at the United Nations level, at the United States level. Everybody is pushing in order to make a ceasefire [happen], that could be the basis for ensuring the security in Israel and the peace for Lebanese people.
Q. Did you make a deadline for the ceasefire?

Yesterday.

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