UN: Escalating violence between Israel and regional armed groups risks devastating conflict

“We risk seeing a conflagration that could dwarf even the devastation and suffering witnessed so far,” UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the 15-member council on Friday, which met about attacks this week on Hezbollah.

“It is not too late to avoid such folly. There is still room for diplomacy,” she said.

“I also strongly urge member states with influence over the parties to leverage it now.”

As its war in Gaza nears one year old, Israel killed at least 14 people and wounded 66 in an air raid on the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday.

Israel’s airstrike followed two days of attacks in which Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies exploded, killing 37 people and wounding thousands. Those attacks were widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.

On Friday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk told the Security Council that the attack on Hezbollah communications devices violated international law and could constitute a war crime.

Turk stated it was “difficult to conceive” how the attacks on Hezbollah’s communications devices “could possibly conform with the key principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack, under international humanitarian law”.

He added that he was “appalled” by the attacks using communication devices.

“This has unleashed widespread fear, panic and horror among people in Lebanon, already suffering in an increasingly volatile situation since October 2023 and crumbling under a severe and longstanding economic crisis. This cannot be the new normal,” he continued.

Turk called for an independent, thorough and transparent investigation and for those who ordered and carried out the attacks to be held to account.

Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told the council that the US expects all parties to comply with international humanitarian law and take all reasonable steps to minimise harm to civilians, especially in densely populated areas.

“It is imperative that even as facts emerge about the latest incidents – in which I reiterate, the United States played no role – all parties refrain from any actions which could plunge the region into a devastating war.”

Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from homes on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border since Hezbollah began firing rockets into 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 announced it will use force if necessary to ensure its citizens can return to their homes in northern Israel.

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has stressed that pager and walkie-talkie blasts by Israel in Lebanon are a declaration of war.

“The enemy has crossed all red lines and all laws in this attack. This is a massive terrorist attack, genocide, a massacre,” Nasrallah said Thursday in his first televised address since the attack.

“The Tuesday and Wednesday massacres are a war crime, a declaration of war…you can call it anything,” he continued, adding Israel will face “tough retribution and just punishment, where it expects it and where it does not”.