Is Germany sending troops to the Lebanese border with Israel without authorization from the Lebanese government? This question was part of a stream of news which quickly made rounds on social media in the Arabic-speaking world.

Though this news may seem surprising at first, it is hardly new. German soldiers have been active in Lebanon for more than 17 years, with the consent of the Lebanese government, as Germany has been part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) since 2006. 

The peacekeeping mission was established during the 1978 South Lebanon Conflict to ensure Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, which Israel had invaded at the time.The mission, which the Lebanese authorities approve yearly before the UN Security Council votes on it, aims to ensure that UN Resolution 1701 is implemented. Since 2006, it has prohibited the deployment of Hezbollah militias south of the Litani River, the border area with Israel, which Hezbollah does not adhere to. In turn, Israeli troops would have to withdraw behind the Blue Line – the border. This means Israel would have to stop violations of the Lebanese airspace, which they have yet to stop as well. Ten thousand soldiers are currently part of this mission, in cooperation with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). 200 of them are German.

Germany has no plans to station more troops in the country, German government circles told Daraj: “There was and is no plan to station more German soldiers in southern Lebanon.”

What’s new, on the other hand, is that more money will now be flowing into Lebanon. The German government is providing the Lebanese army with an additional 15 million euros (16.4 million US dollars). This was announced by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on January 10 in Beirut during a visit to the Middle East. 

The budget increase is intended to enable Lebanese soldiers in the south to better ensure safety, the foreign minister said, while calling on both Israel and Hezbollah to de-escalate tensions at the Lebanese-Israeli border, which have increased since Hamas’ attack on Israel and Israel’s war on Gaza that followed.

The funding has been agreed on with international partners, including Israel, and is earmarked for things like fuel and military training. There was no mention of any funding for additional soldiers.

 “You can count on our solidarity”: Germany remains on Israel’s side

This news broke out at a time when Germany’s foreign policy is being viewed more critically than ever in the Arab world. In the Israeli war on Gaza, Germany has clearly taken Israel’s side. During her recent visit to the Middle East, Baerbock emphasized that Germany will continue this course. “Your country can count on our solidarity in the fight against the blind terror that wants to wipe Israel off the map,” the German foreign minister told Israel’s President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Monday, January 9 2023, in Jerusalem.

At the same time, she called on Israel to show military moderation, addressed the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza, and made several demands, an act which has been interpreted in Germany as a diplomatic tightrope act. Resolution 1701 is a central part of the diplomatic negotiations.

As Israel demands that Resolution 1701 should finally be implemented and Hezbollah should retreat from the border area, the Lebanese government demands that Israel stop violating  Resolution 1701. In December, after a meeting with US ambassador Dorothy Shea, foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib said: “Halting Israeli violations of Resolution 1701, which have continued since 2006, is the key to not destabilizing security and stability in southern Lebanon and the region.”

With a wider escalation of hostilities looming between Israel and Hezbollah on the southern border of Lebanon, it is probably no coincidence that the German Foreign Minister chose strikingly similar words in Beirut on January 10, while referring to the Lebanese side of the border: “The stronger UNIFIL is supported, the stronger our joint contribution to de-escalation can be,” said Baerbock, referring to the tense situation on the Israeli-Lebanese border. “LAF needs to play an essential role in implementing 1701.”

Germany wants the Lebanese Armed Forces to play a role in implementing 1701

With that in mind, the 15 million Euros of additional military budget can be interpreted as an attempt at wanting to de-escalate on the southern borders in Lebanon, by strengthening the Lebanese Armed Forces in the hope they influence Hezbollah to withdraw, while not taking any action that Israel would not approve of.

Baerbock’s trip to the Middle East illustrates just how much of a balancing act Germany’s position with regard to the war in Gaza has become. While reaffirming the German state’s solidarity with Israel, on the other hand, Baerbock criticized Israel more clearly than ever since the beginning of the Gaza war – and made demands. Settlement construction in the West Bank, she said, “is illegal,” as it undermines lasting peace and jeopardizes a two-state solution. “It is the responsibility of the Israeli army to protect Palestinians from violent settlers,” she demanded.

A day later, she stood close to the border to the Gaza Strip in Rafah and said: “Life in Gaza is hell.” She called on Israel to open the border crossing for 24 hours to allow people to leave the war zone and asked Israel to show military restraint,demanding “less intensive operations.”

The message, or at least so it was received in Germany, is clear: Germany is and will remain an ally of Israel and Hamas is to blame for the war. Nevertheless, Germany sees the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza and is also making demands for Israel to enact.

All this comes at a time in which German public opinion grows more skeptical towards Israel’s military action in Gaza. In the representative poll “ZDF Politikbarometer” published on January 12th, 61 percent of the surveyed do not consider Israel’s proceedings to be justified, while 25 percent do. In the end of November, 50 percent voted against, 35 percent in favor of Israel’s military actions in Gaza. 

In the Arab world, Baerbock’s demands to Israel may be perceived as small, perhaps almost negligible. In Germany, it was precisely these critical statements towards Israel that ended up making the headlines.

This, and the fact that reports of an alleged deployment of German soldiers in Lebanon are causing an outcry, despite the fact that they have been there for a long time, shows one thing above all: That the rift between Germany and Arab societies has widened immensely as a result of the war on Gaza.