Swiss foreign ministry wary of possible Middle East escalation

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis has expressed concern after the killing of leading Hamas figure Ismail Haniyeh. And after an Israeli strike in Beirut, the foreign ministry is advising Swiss citizens to leave Lebanon. The killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran creates “a territorial link to another country”, which increases the likelihood of a regional escalation, Cassis told the Keystone-SDA news agency at a press conference at the Olympic Games in Paris on Wednesday. The question now was what consequences the killing would have at the regional and supra-regional level – as well as for Europe and Switzerland, Cassis said. For him, the killing corresponds with Israel’s stated aim of wanting to eliminate Hamas, and was therefore to be expected. A possible regional expansion of the conflict must however be prevented, Cassis said. + Read more: our coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian war He appealed to all actors to hold back with further reactions. Since the start of ...