🌍 Mounting Tensions Alert! The United Nations Security Council held an emergency session on Thursday after Israeli forces fired at UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, injuring two soldiers. This alarming incident is stirring up major concerns of an escalating conflict in the Middle East.
\"The conflict in Lebanon, coupled with intensified strikes in Syria and the raging violence in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, points to a region dangerously teetering on the brink of an all-out war,\" said Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs.
Recent clashes between Hezbollah and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), along with Israel's ground operations in Lebanon, have created a humanitarian emergency, DiCarlo warned.
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, highlighted that Israel's ground operations and intense air bombardment have left much of southern Lebanon uninhabited and increasingly uninhabitable. \"The safety and security of peacekeepers is now increasingly in jeopardy,\" he said.
Lebanon's representative to the UN accused Israel of attempting to invade his country, violating the UN Charter and Resolution 1701. He called on the Security Council to condemn the act and adopt a resolution to end it.
Israel's delegate responded by stating that Israel would continue its operations to degrade Hezbollah's capabilities and diminish what it termed its \\"terror network\\" in southern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Lebanon's Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli attack on UN peacekeepers, with reports of a new attack on Friday from the state-run National News Agency.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday warned Israel that there must be no repeat of the \\"intolerable\\" incident that wounded two UNIFIL peacekeeping soldiers. \\"There was naturally a reaction from many sides in solidarity with the peacekeepers that were wounded and in telling Israel very clearly that this incident is intolerable and cannot be repeated,\\" Guterres said after talks with Southeast Asian leaders at a summit in Laos.
The region is on edge, and the world is watching. 🌐 Let's hope for peace and that cooler heads prevail. ✌️
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
