European nations, Australia condemn Israeli strikes on Lebanon, back de-escalation

A group of European nations and Australia condemned “in the strongest terms” last week’s massive Israeli strikes on Lebanon as well as attacks on UN peacekeepers. In a joint statement, foreign ministers of Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the Greek Cypriot administration reaffirmed that Lebanon’s territorial integrity must be respected.