The humanitarian situation in Lebanon grows more desperate every day. Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing their homes with their last remaining belongings, children are being separated from their parents and hospitals are working at full capacity. Lebanon is on the verge of collapse. And in Lebanon, too, we see terrorists irresponsibly hiding behind civilians and continuing to fire missiles at Israel from there. That is unacceptable. When carrying out its operations, however, Israel must take into account the fine line between the right to self-defence and international humanitarian law, and it must protect the lives of innocent civilians.

What is more, all parties to the conflict are under an obligation to protect UN peacekeepers. The UNIFIL soldiers have our full support. They are needed for a political resolution of the conflict. Any deliberate attack on UN peacekeeping troops is a violation of international humanitarian law. During the last few weeks, Israel has managed to greatly weaken the terrorist Hezbollah. The task now is to work with our partners in the United States, Europe and the Arab world to devise a viable diplomatic solution which preserves the legitimate security interests of Israel as well as those of Lebanon. Complete destabilisation of the country would be fatal for the most religiously diverse society of any state in the Middle East, as well as for the entire region.

The key to peace is the full implementation of UN Resolution 1701. Lebanon’s armed forces also have an important role to play here. I want to use my talks in Beirut and then at the Lebanon conference in Paris to explore how we can advance along this difficult road and, at the same time, help to alleviate the humanitarian suffering.