UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the General Assembly. Picture: United Nations
AN all-out war in Lebanon has to be avoided, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says.
He delivered the bleak warning to a UN Security Council meeting on Lebanon held in New York today (AEST).
“Hell is breaking loose in Lebanon,” he says.
An all-out war must be avoided at all costs. It would surely be an all-out catastrophe.”
He added: “The people of Lebanon — as well as the people of Israel — and the people of the world — cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.
“As I told the General Assembly yesterday, we should all be alarmed by the escalation. Lebanon is at the brink.”
He called for Lebanese sovereignty to respected and said the UN supports all efforts to strengthen its armed forces.
He noted that hostilities had escalated dramatically since the remote detonation of pagers and hand-held radios used by Hezbollah, with regular heavy exchanges of gunfire and rockets, missiles and drones happening across borders.
He said that in the last 24 hours, new strikes killed at least another 50 people in Lebanon and injured more than 200 as families clog the roads seeking safety and many were left stranded at Beirut airport.
“At least $170 million is needed to respond to growing numbers of displaced and mounting humanitarian needs,” Mr Guterres says, pointing out that the need is growing on both sides of the conflict.
Diplomatic efforts have intensified to achieve a temporary ceasefire, allowing for delivery of humanitarian relief and paving the way for the resumption of more durable peace,” he says.
Mr Guterres says the UN Special Co-ordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, visited Israel to tell them that a military escalation is in no one’s interest.
He also reported that the Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, General Aroldo Lazaro, continues to talk to both sides and urged immediate de-escalation.
“Despite the dangerous conditions, our peacekeepers remain in position. To mitigate the risk to mission personnel, most civilian personnel have temporarily relocated north of the Litani River,” he says.
“To all sides, let us say in one clear voice: Stop the killing and destruction. Tone down the rhetoric and threats. Step back from the brink.”
