I've been in Lebanon three times this year, and this is my last visit as High Representative of the European Union [for Foreign Policy]. And I have chosen to close my mandate here in Lebanon, in Beirut, because what is going on in the Middle East, and, in particular, here in Beirut, is putting the international community at a test if we are really willing and able to make peace.
This conflict has already taken an international dimension, and the international community cannot stay idle in front of what is happening here. The price of no peace in the Middle East has become exorbitant, unaffordable for the people dying under the bombs, for the people in Lebanon, for the region, and for the whole world.
Back in September, I came and I was still hoping that we could prevent a full-fledged war, a full-fledged war of Israel attacking Lebanon. Two months later, Lebanon is on the brink of collapse - with the war raging in the south, where tens of villages have been fully destroyed, and with the airstrikes against Beirut and in Baalbek, and rockets flying over Tel Aviv.
The toll, the human toll, is extremely heavy. Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 3. Fifteen thousand people have been injured, and among the casualties, an incredible amount of medical workers and hospitals being hit. Two months ago, as today, we see only one possible way ahead, an immediate ceasefire and the full implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution - an immediate and simultaneous ceasefire by all parties.
And in order to reach this ceasefire, I want to commend the efforts done by the US and by France. The deployment of Lebanese [Armed] Forces along the Litany River, the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters, the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the establishment of Lebanese full sovereignty by air, land, and sea.
