High Representaitve of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell speaks during a press conference following the EU Foreign Ministers meeting at the European Union Delegation headquarters ahead of the 79th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York on September 23, 2024. Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP.
Brussels, Belgium: European foreign ministers will hold emergency talks Monday on the situation in Lebanon, Brussels said, as Israel presses on with air strikes after killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
A spokesman said the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell had convened a video meeting at 1500 GMT "to discuss the EU's response to the latest escalation in Lebanon".
International powers are scrambling to prevent the conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah group from spiralling into a broader conflict.
The 27-nation European Union has so far struggled to speak with one voice -- or exert much influence -- to curb the violence that has roiled the region over the past year.
Israel on Monday carried out its first air strike in the heart of Lebanon's capital Beirut since the outbreak of the war in Gaza last year, killing four people.
That raid was the latest in an aerial campaign that saw Israel kill Hezbollah's long-time chief Nasrallah on Friday in a major ratcheting up of tensions.
Israeli attacks have killed hundreds in Lebanon since last Monday, the deadliest day since the country's 1975-1990 civil war.
In the last week, Israeli bombardment has killed more than 700 people, including 14 paramedics over a two-day period, the ministry said.
UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon and more than 100,000 have fled to neighbouring Syria.
