UN Chief Warns Israel and Hezbollah of the Risk of a Wider War

[Pelican Press 0]

UN Chief Warns ******* and Hezbollah of the Risk of a Wider War

After months of escalating ********* along *******’s northern border with Lebanon, the chief of the ******* Nations warned on Friday that “the risk for the conflict in the Middle East to widen is real — and must be avoided.”

Speaking to reporters in New York, the chief, Secretary General António Guterres, said that “one rash move” by ******* or Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese group targeting ******* in allegiance with ****** fighters in Gaza, could trigger a “catastrophe that goes far beyond the border and, frankly, beyond imagination.”

World leaders have tried for months to calm tensions between ******* and Hezbollah, trying to prevent a full-fledged war. But instead of quelling the conflict, strikes and counterstrikes across the border have become more intense — and the rhetoric of leaders on both sides has only become more bellicose in recent days, prompting Mr. Guterres to express what he called “profound concern” that all-out war would erupt.

“Many lives have already been lost, tens of thousands of people have been displaced and homes and livelihoods have been destroyed,” Mr. Guterres said. He added that “the people of the region and the people of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.”

Ever since Hezbollah began trading ***** with ******** forces in the wake of the ******-led ******** on ******* on Oct. 7, over 100 civilians in ******* and Lebanon have been *******, and more than 150,000 have been displaced from their homes. The exchanges have also sparked wildfires on both sides of the border.

The ******** military said in statements on Friday that it had “successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanese territory” and that “a number of launches were identified crossing from Lebanon into several areas in northern *******.” The military said that it responded with artillery ***** in southern Lebanon on Friday and aircraft strikes on “******* targets” in four areas, including Hezbollah military structures, and that “throughout the night” ******** fighter jets had “struck Hezbollah ********** infrastructure.”

******* Katz, the ******** foreign minister, said

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on Friday that “******* cannot allow the Hezbollah ******* organization to continue attacking its territory and citizens, and soon we will make the necessary decisions.” He added that “the free world must unconditionally stand with *******” against Iran and the militant groups that it backs.

“Our war is also your war,” he said.

Mr. Katz’s comments were an apparent response to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese militia, who said on Wednesday that there would be “no place safe from our missiles and our drones” in ******* if a full-fledged war broke out.

Mr. Nasrallah also threatened to draw Cyprus into the conflict if it allowed ******* to use its airports and bases in a wider regional war. Cyprus and ******* have a bilateral defense agreement, and the countries have conducted ****** exercises in the past. But President Nikos Christodoulides of Cyprus said that his country was “absolutely not involved in any way,” in

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.

Mr. Nasrallah’s threat confirmed the fears of world leaders trying to contain the conflict, highlighting how quickly the fighting could further escalate and extend. President Biden, hoping to defuse the simmering conflict, dispatched one of his senior aides, Amos Hochstein, to ******* on Monday and to Lebanon on Tuesday to press for a diplomatic solution.

Farnaz Fassihi contributed reporting.

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