re-establish

But many Western officials say Hezbollah has been weakened and that this is the moment for the Lebanese government to re-establish control over all the country's territory.

"We must know the motivation behind the attacks, and to re-establish peace and safety as fast as possible."

But many are struggling to feed their families, provide education for their children, and just re-establish the basics of a normal life.

“The Israeli military campaign seems to be creating a ‘dead zone’ in the south of Lebanon to drive out the population, and making it difficult for Hezbollah to re-establish positions, at the cost of the civilian population,” he said.

Mr Lammy’s more prosaic aim on this visit is simply to re-establish some kind of working relationship with Beijing.