German Development Minister Svenja Schulze arrived in Lebanon on Monday for a short visit to pledge further aid to the country, which has been hit hard by the war between Israel and Hezbollah.
In mid-October, the Bundestag provided its ministry with another €60 million ($65.4 million) to provide health care, food and clean drinking water for the hundreds of thousands of displaced people and refugees.
“It is in Lebanon’s interest to stabilize the situation here, but it is also in Germany’s interest,” Schulze said after talks with Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut.
“If the Middle East and Lebanon in particular become even more destabilized, we will certainly also notice this in Germany.”
The current war between Israel and Hezbollah began on October 8 last year with rocket attacks by the Lebanese militia in support of Hamas, which sparked the Gaza war with its attack on Israel the day before.
Since then, Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been engaged in intense fighting. About 3,000 people have been killed in Lebanon so far, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
The humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate. According to the United Nations, more than 800,000 people in the country have been displaced as a result of the attacks. In addition, there are still approximately 1.2 million refugees from the Syrian civil war in Lebanon.
