German intelligence chief meets with Hezbollah deputy head as tension with Israel escalates

Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah has once again asserted that it stops retaliatory strikes against Israel once the Gaza war comes to an end amid rising tension with the Israeli regime.

Hezbollah's Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem made the remarks in a meeting with German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) Deputy Director Ole Diehl at the weekend, according to reports.

The meeting was reportedly centered on the rising tensions between Hezbollah and Israel, how a full-scale war could be avoided and a demand for an end to Hezbollah’s retaliatory strikes against the Israeli regime in support of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, according to the reports.

The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar daily said on Monday that both parties declined to comment on the meeting, but German news agencies said that an intelligence plane from the European country had made a brief stop at Beirut International Airport on Saturday evening.

According to informed sources, “the meeting’s atmosphere was positive.”

The report alleged that the German envoy had conveyed Israel's intention to return the displaced Israeli settlers to kibbutzes in the northern Israeli-occupied territories and that it would wage war on Hezbollah if necessary in order to achieve this objective.

Germany failed to persuade Hezbollah to stop retaliatory strikes against Israel: Report

The Al-Akhbar daily said in a report a meeting took place in that regard recently.

Qassem's response echoed his earlier comments to Diehl in January, emphasizing that any talk of a ceasefire in southern Lebanon is contingent upon the ceasefire in Gaza. He reportedly urged Germany to put pressure on Israel to stop its aggression.

“Unless the war stops in Gaza, it cannot stop in Lebanon,” Qassem said more recently, on January 26.

Hezbollah's senior official stated that the resistance in Lebanon is not scared of the enemy's threats of a full-scale war. "Their strength and readiness, along with their unwavering courage, provide a strong defense against any potential conflict," he declared.

The meeting in Beirut was the second between the two officials amid Western efforts to separate the Lebanese front from the Palestinian front and persuade the resistance to stop supporting Hamas resistance movement.

Germany asks Iran to help prevent further escalation in West Asia

Germany asks Iran to help prevent further escalation in the region, days after calling on global powers to mediate a decrease in regional tensions.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in a telephone conversation with Iran's interim Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani on Friday asked Tehran to help prevent further escalation in the region, days after calling on global powers to mediate a decrease in regional tensions.

Baerbock called for an “urgently needed” ceasefire in the besieged Gaza Strip. “This will also calm the northern front,” she said.

During her one-day visit to Beirut last week, Baerbock warned that a “miscalculation” could trigger a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Last week, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned that “no place” in the Israeli-occupied territories would be spared from the group’s weapons in the event of a full-blown war.

Nasrallah also said Hezbollah would attack any other country in the region that assisted Israel in the war effort, citing Cyprus, which has hosted Israeli forces for training.

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