THE UNITED NATIONS - Security Council members met in emergency session on Tuesday morning in New York with the Middle East on the brink of all-out war.
The UN Secretary-General briefed the 15-member Council and ambassadors debate the current escalating situation on the ground in the Middle East.
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Council “the raging fires on the Middle East are fast becoming an inferno,” and that Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected
- “Civilians are paying a terrible price” across the Middle East, “which I utterly condemn”
- It’s essential to avoid all-out war in Lebanon “which would have profound and devastating consequences”
- He reiterated his strong condemnation of Tuesday’s massive missile attack by Iran on Israel
- Meanwhile, the suffering the people of Gaza continue to endure “is beyond imagination”
- “It is high time to stop the sickening cycle of escalation after escalation that is leading the people of the Middle East straight over the cliff”
- “We cannot look away from the systematic violations of international humanitarian law occurring across the region”
France requested the emergency session following Iran’s decision to launch close to 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday as Israeli forces launched “limited” incursions into southern Lebanon in addition to its widespread and deadly bombing campaign against Hezbollah militants, all against the backdrop of the nearly year-long war in Gaza.
‘Lebanon and the Lebanese deserve to live,’ representative says
“The policy of putting heads in the sand and fearing, confronting and deterring Israel is no longer useful,” Al-Sayyid Hadi Hashim, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim for Lebanon, stressed. The people of Lebanon and the Government of Lebanon reject war and want to fully implement the resolution 1701 and deploy the Lebanese army in the south along the land border with support from UNIFIL [the UN peacekeeping mission operating along the buffer zone with Israel since 1978].
This situation is likely to continue as long as resolution 1701 is not fully implemented, as long as the focus is on imposing military rather than diplomatic solutions, he cautioned, adding that Lebanon is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and is in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.
“Today, we have reached a humanitarian catastrophe, with one million internally displaced people, including thousands on the roads, without food, drink or medication,” he said, thanking the UN for launching an urgent appeal of $426 million.
“Lebanon is today caught between the hammer of the Israeli destruction machine and the ambitions of some in the region,” he said. “Lebanon and the Lebanese deserve to live.”
Lebanon says region is burning from all sides
Al-Sayyid Hadi Hashim, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim for Lebanon said the Middle East region is burning from all sides.
The Israeli Government and its cabinet approved the ground invasion of Lebanon, the first of which began last night, coming 11 months after the barbaric aggression since 8 October, in flagrant violation of the UN Charter, international law, international humanitarian law and all international norms and humanitarian principles.
“Everything Israel says about limited surgical military operations is not true,” he said, pointing to an attack in the village of Ain al-Delb as “the best proof of that”, when on 29 September an Israeli raid targeted a residential building that ended up with 71 people, including dozens of women and children, buried in a mass grave.
Recalling Israeli massacres in 1996 and 2006, he asked “how many times have we come to this Council and warned of the catastrophic situation?”
What is happening today in terms of unprecedented killing, displacement and destruction cannot be tolerated and ignored, he said, pointing to Israel’s intensified aggression and crimes against Lebanon and its capital, Beirut.
All-out war ‘must be avoided in Lebanon at all costs’: Guterres
The UN Secretary-General called for an immediate ceasefire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants, as Israel launched what it described as a “limited” ground incursion into Southern Lebanon.
Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric issued a statement saying that UN chief António Guterres was “extremely concerned” by the fast escalation of the conflict.
“An all-out war must be avoided in Lebanon at all costs, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon must be respected”, Mr. Dujarric added.
China: Israel violating ‘sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon’
China's Ambassador Fu Cong told the Council that China is opposed “to all acts that violate the basic norms of international relations and condemn all violence and attacks against civilians.”
He underlined the importance of the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of all States adding that China shares “the position of the United Nations that any Israeli crossing into Lebanon violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon and contravenes the provisions of the Security Council resolution 1701.”
Echoing the views of other speakers he said that an “all-out war is on the verge of breaking out,” and urged “all parties, in particular Israel, to exercise restraint and refrain from any action that could lead to further escalation of the situation.”
Ambassador Fu also highlighted what he referred to as “groundless accusations” made by Israel against the UN Secretary-General.