The UN Security Council will meet urgently on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Lebanon, where Israeli bombings in recent days have left around 600 people dead, the Slovenian presidency of the body announced on Tuesday.
The meeting requested by France will take place on Wednesday at 6:00 pm (11:00 pm in Lisbon), with the presence of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the same source added.
“At this moment, I am thinking of the Lebanese people, while the Israeli attacks have just caused hundreds of civilian casualties, including dozens of children,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Monday, speaking at the UN General Assembly.
In recent days, the Israeli army has carried out attacks in several areas of southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as in the capital Beirut, killing around 600 people and injuring over a thousand. Israeli authorities have claimed to have eliminated several Hezbollah commanders.
This new phase of the conflict, with a dramatic increase in tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, was triggered by two days of simultaneous explosions of the group’s communication devices, first pagers, then walkie-talkies – on 17 and 18 September – attacks attributed to Israel that left around 40 dead and 3,000 injured, according to the most recent assessment released by the Lebanese authorities.
Israeli forces and Hezbollah have been locked in a fierce crossfire along the Lebanese-Israeli border for more than 11 months, in the worst clashes since the 2006 war, which escalated sharply this summer after a pro-Iranian militia attack killed 12 children in the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967.
Tensions in the Middle East region increased after the attack on October 7, 2023 by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli territory, which left 1,205 dead, mostly civilians, and 251 hostages, and in retaliation for which the Israeli army started a war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip that has already left at least 41,467 dead and 95,900 injured, in addition to more than 10,000 missing, according to figures from the local Ministry of Health, which the UN considers reliable.
From Lebanon, Hezbollah joined the attacks against Israel, in solidarity with the Palestinian population, thus opening a second battle front for Israel, on its northern border, making the international community fear that the conflict would spread to the entire Middle East.
Source: expresso.pt
