In a stark warning, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Lebanon is “on the verge of an all-out war”, adding that there is still time to stop the conflict….reports Asian Lite News
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel has killed “thousands” of Hezbollah members, including Hashem Safieddine, the expected successor to the group’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The statement was made in a video message to the people of Lebanon, released by Netanyahu’s office on Tuesday, in which he urged them to “liberate” Lebanon from Hezbollah, accusing the group of causing the country’s ongoing financial crisis, Xinhua news agency reported.
“We’ve degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities. We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself, his successor, and his successor’s successor,” Netanyahu said.
“Today, Hezbollah is weaker than it has been in many years,” he added.
Netanyahu emphasised that Israel remains determined to continue its fight against Hezbollah.
Later in the day, Israel launched extensive airstrikes targeting underground Hezbollah command centres in Lebanon, in which more than 50 militants were killed.
The IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said that the airstrikes hit and destroyed dozens of underground command centres of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, where the commanders leading the fight against Israel were located.
According to Hagari, six senior commanders from Hezbollah’s Southern Front and the Radwan Forces were killed, including Ali Ahmad Ismail, identified as the artillery commander in the Bint Jbeil area, and Ahmad Hassan Nazal, identified as head of the attack sector in Bint Jbeil for the Radwan Forces, Hezbollah’s elite commando unit, Xinhua news agency reported.
He noted that the Southern Front constructed an “extensive” network of underground infrastructure and command centres in southern Lebanon, designed to attack IDF soldiers during ground combats and execute attacks on communities in Israel.
The IDF spokesman added that the airstrikes targeted the entire area where Hezbollah’s Southern Front operates along with the Radwan Forces.
In total, the IDF struck over 125 sites in southern Lebanon during the past 24 hours.
According to Israeli official figures, Hezbollah launched more than 170 rockets across the border on Tuesday.
The total number of fatalities in Lebanon since the onset of Israeli attacks has exceeded 2,100, with over 10,000 individuals injured, according to Lebanese authorities.
Stark warning from UN chief
Lebanon is “on the verge of an all-out war”, but there is still time to stop, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said.
Speaking at the UN headquarters in New York, Guterres said that the Middle East “is a powder keg with many parties holding the match”.
“I have warned for months of the risks of the conflict spreading,” said the UN chief, adding that the situation in the occupied West Bank is “boiling over,” and attacks in Lebanon are threatening the entire region.
He said that over the last few days, exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and others in Lebanon and the Israel Defence Forces have intensified across the Blue Line, in total disregard of Security Council resolutions 1701 and 1559, Xinhua news agency reported.
Guterres noted that large-scale Israeli strikes deep into Lebanon, including Beirut, have killed more than 2,000 people over the last year — and 1,500 in just the past two weeks alone, and attacks by Hezbollah and others south of the Blue Line have killed at least 49 people over the last year. In addition, Lebanese authorities report over 1 million people have been displaced in Lebanon, and 300,000 people have fled into Syria, while over 60,000 people remain displaced from northern Israel.
“We are on the verge of an all-out war in Lebanon, with already devastating consequences. But there is still time to stop,” he said.
“The sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected,” he stressed.
Egypt, Jordan urge political settlement
Egypt and Jordan called for an immediate halt of “the Israeli aggression” against Gaza and Lebanon, urging for a political settlement to the conflicts.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi made the remarks during a joint press conference in Cairo on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.
According to Abdelatty, the two ministers discussed solutions to the escalating regional political and security crises, reviewing Egypt and Jordan’s contacts with the parties concerned and other countries to prevent the region from sliding into a comprehensive regional war.
The discussions stressed the importance of continuing Arab efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and stop the “brutal Israeli aggression” on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, said Abdelatty.
The Egyptian diplomat added that their discussions emphasised the complete and absolute rejection of Israeli policies to force the Palestinians to leave their occupied lands, which would lead to the liquidation of the Palestinian cause at the expense of neighbouring countries.
For his part, the Jordanian foreign minister said that Jordan will continue to work with Egypt to end the Israeli “aggression” on Gaza and Lebanon.
Safadi warned against the “boiling” situation in the West Bank, noting that “if the situation explodes there, this escalation will take on a more dangerous dimension.”
The situation is really on the brink of the abyss, he said, stressing that there is “no room for procrastination, and Israel must not be a state above the law.”
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