JERUSALEM: EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned on Monday during a visit to Jerusalem that the Zionist entity’s strikes on Syria and Lebanon threatened to worsen the situation. The most intense escalation since a November ceasefire, which largely halted an all-out war between the entity and Hezbollah in Lebanon, occurred on Saturday. Lebanon’s health ministry said eight people have been killed in Zionist strikes. Hezbollah denied responsibility for rocket fire, which the Zionist entity claims triggered its renewed attack.

Despite the ceasefire, the Zionist entity has continued to carry out strikes on Lebanon, and both sides have repeatedly accused the other of violating the truce. “Military actions must be proportionate, and the (Zionist entity’s) strikes into Syria and Lebanon risk further escalation,” Kallas said at a joint news conference with the Zionist entity’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.

In Syria, the Zionist entity has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites since rebels overthrew strongman Bashar Al-Assad in December. The Zionist entity claims it wants to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities it considers jihadists. “We feel that these things are unnecessary because Syria is right now not attacking (the Zionist entity) and that feeds more radicalization that is also against (the entity), which we don’t want to see,” Kallas told journalists.

The Zionist entity’s military has also deployed to the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights, separating the Zionist entity-occupied part of the Golan from that still controlled by Syria. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the demilitarization of southern Syria and said his country will not tolerate the presence of forces from the new authorities south of Damascus. Syria’s foreign ministry has accused the Zionist entity of waging a campaign against “the stability of the country”. When asked about the entity’s stance towards Syria’s new leaders, Kallas said: “Of course our worries are the same. They say the right things, will they do the right things?” “But we have discussed this in the European Union and amongst all the member states, and our view is that we need a stable Syria,” she added. 

Kallas also spoke on war-ravaged Gaza, where the Zionist entity restarted intense air strikes last week followed by ground operations, shattering the relative calm of a six-week ceasefire agreement with Hamas. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Monday that 730 people had been killed since the entity resumed bombardments on March 18. “The fundamental steps here are restating the ceasefire, ensuring the release of all hostages, and resuming the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza with the goal of a permanent ceasefire,” the EU’s top diplomat said. “The European Union can help, whether through restating our Rafah border-crossing mission or providing more humanitarian assistance,” she added.

Kallas, who visited Egypt on Sunday, said the EU welcomed the Arab plan for the reconstruction of Gaza but said more needed to be done on issues such as cost-sharing and the future of governance. “We see no role for Hamas in the future governance of Gaza,” the diplomat said. “We definitely need to discuss how the governance of Gaza is foreseen ... and the European Union is ready to participate in those discussions,” she added. Kallas is due to hold talks with Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Mustafa in the occupied West Bank later on Monday. — AFP