At the UN Security Council, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says Israel's attacks on Hezbollah facilities violated international law and could constitute a war crime.
A senior United Nations official told the Security Council that further violence between Israel and Iran-aligned groups Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon risks sparking a far more damaging conflict.
“We risk seeing a conflagration that could eclipse even the devastation and suffering witnessed so far,” UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the 15-member council on Friday, which met to discuss this week’s attacks on Hezbollah.
“It is not too late to prevent such madness. There is still room for diplomacy,” he said. “I also strongly urge Member States with influence over the parties to use it now.”
As its war in Gaza approaches its first year, Israel killed at least 14 people and wounded 66 in an airstrike on the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday.
The Israeli military said a senior Hezbollah commander and other senior figures in the Lebanese movement were among the dead, and vowed to carry out a new military campaign until it secured the area around the Lebanese border.
Hezbollah has not confirmed the deaths of any commanders on Friday.
The Israeli airstrike followed two days of attacks in which Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies blew up, killing 37 people and wounding thousands. The attacks are believed to have been the work of Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.
On Friday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk told the Security Council that the attack on Hezbollah's communications facilities violated international law and could amount to a war crime.
Turk said it was “difficult to conceive” how attacks on Hezbollah communications devices “could possibly conform to the key principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack under international humanitarian law.”
He added that he was “horrified” by the attacks using communication devices.
“This has unleashed widespread fear, panic and horror among the population of Lebanon, which has already been suffering from an increasingly unstable situation since October 2023 and is crumbling under a severe and prolonged economic crisis. This cannot be the new normal,” he said.
Turk called for an independent, thorough and transparent investigation and for those who ordered and carried out the attacks to be held accountable.
U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood told the council that the United States expects all parties to comply with international humanitarian law and take all reasonable steps to minimize harm to civilians, especially in densely populated areas.
“It is imperative that, even as the facts emerge about the latest incidents – in which, I repeat, the United States played no role – all parties refrain from any action that could plunge the region into a devastating war.”
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border since Hezbollah began firing rockets toward Israel in October in support of Gaza, where Israel is waging a devastating war that has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians.
Israel, which last fought an all-out war against Hezbollah 18 years ago, has said it will use force if necessary to ensure its citizens can return to their homes in northern Israel.
