European Union foreign policy Chief, Kaja Kallas has warned that Israeli attacks on Syria and Lebanon threaten to risk further escalation in the volatile Middle East.
She issued this warning on Monday, March 24, 2025, during a visit to Jerusalem.
Kallas said at a joint news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar that military actions must be “proportionate.”
“We feel that these things are unnecessary because Syria is right now not attacking Israel, and that feeds more radicalisation that is also against Israel, which we don’t want to see.”
Kaja Kallas
Despite a November ceasefire, which ended the war between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, Israel has continued to carry out air raids on Lebanon and both sides have repeatedly accused the other of violating the truce.
The most intense escalation since the November ceasefire, occurred on Saturday, March 22, 2025.
Lebanon’s health ministry disclosed that seven people were killed, with Israel saying that it attacked in response to rocket fire, which Hezbollah denied responsibility for.
In Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of raids on military sites since rebels overthrew Bashar al-Assad in December.
The Israeli military has also deployed to the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights, separating the Israeli-occupied part of the Golan from that still controlled by Syria.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the demilitarisation of southern Syria and said that his country will not tolerate the presence of forces from the new authorities south of Damascus.
Syria’s foreign ministry has accused Israel of waging a campaign against “the stability of the country.”
Kallas On Gaza Ceasefire Collapse
Moreover, EU foreign policy Chief, Kaja Kallas addressed the collapse in ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem alongside Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, Kallas said that her visit to the region comes at a difficult time as a result of the collapse of the Gaza ceasefire.
Monday that the collapse of the Gaza ceasefire agreement has caused heavy loss of life.
She called for the resumption of the ceasefire as “the only feasible way to end the suffering on all sides.”
Kallas emphasized that “violence feeds more violence,” iterating that the escalation is causing “unbearable uncertainty” for Israelis held captive in Gaza and their families and causing “horror and death for the Palestinian people.”
Israel estimates that 59 hostages are still held in Gaza, with at least 24 of them alive.
They were supposed to be released under the ceasefire agreement that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shattered by launching Israeli airstrikes on Gaza last week.
The Israeli army has killed more than 700 Palestinians and injured over 1,000 since launching a surprise aerial campaign on Gaza on March 18 despite the ceasefire that took hold in January.
More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 113,200 injured in a brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza since October 2023.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
Kallas is slated to hold talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa in the occupied West Bank later on Monday.
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