Rescuers deployed to the site of the Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, on Sept. 20, 2024. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient-Le Jour)
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that the United Nations was "extremely concerned by the increased escalation of violence across the Blue Line, as well as the deadly strike in Beirut."
Israel carried out a strike on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital on Friday afternoon. Its army claimed to have killed Ibrahim Aqil, Hezbollah's operations chief, as well as ten other commanders from Hezbollah elite Radwan Force.
The U.N. "urges" all actors to immediately de-escalate. "All actors must exercise the utmost restraint," he insisted at a press briefing.
"We also urge the parties to immediately return to the cessation of hostilities and fully implement Security Council resolution 1701 (2006). The region is on the brink of catastrophe," he added.
According to him, "no effort should be spared to urgently seek a diplomatic solution."
The U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeannine Hennis-Plasschaert, "has insistently conveyed these messages to her interlocutors in Lebanon and Israel," he continued.
According to Dujarric, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo and High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk will convey similar messages. Meanwhile, the peacekeeping forces (UNIFIL) continue to carry out their mandate under extremely difficult conditions, striving to prevent further escalation and restore the cessation of hostilities, he added.
The U.N. spokesperson also stated that the head of the peacekeeping mission there and commander of UNIFIL, General Aroldo Lazaro, is in constant communication with the Lebanese and Israeli armies to avoid miscalculations along the Blue Line and to support humanitarian access to south Lebanon. According to him, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib will attend the Security Council meeting on Lebanon and will subsequently meet with U.N. Secretary-General Antoniò Guterres.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.