As families fled Lebanon’s southern city of Tyre, the regional manager of the agency Christian Aid said “the situation on the ground is grim and getting worse.”

The foreign minister, George Lillikas, asked for financial help from European countries to help the island cope with the influx.

The letter contains … no statements on the Iranian nuclear program” and also does not address the current fighting in Lebanon, Merkel’s spokesman, Ulrich Wilhelm, told reporters. He said it was devoted largely to criticism of Israel and its right to exist.