International community speaks out on dramatic escalation in Lebanon

Faced with increasingly complicated developments in Lebanon, the UN Secretary-General and the Egyptian President both expressed their attitudes.

The scene of devastation after an Israeli attack at Al-Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on September 23. (Source: THX)

On the evening of September 28, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi had a phone call with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, affirming that Cairo always stands by Beirut at this critical moment, and condemning all acts of violating the security, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity of this country.

The Egyptian Presidential Palace said that during the phone call, President El-Sisi emphasized Cairo's support for a comprehensive, immediate and permanent ceasefire in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

Mr. El-Sisi affirmed that Cairo believes that the international community must shoulder its responsibility to prevent Israel's aggression against the Palestinian territories and Lebanon. According to him, the "silence" of the international community will push the Middle East into a dangerous escalation, threatening regional and international peace and stability.

On the same day, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi discussed the urgency of easing tensions in the Middle East, to avoid pushing the region into a full-scale war that could disrupt regional security and stability.

The meeting between the two foreign ministers took place on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York and just hours after Hezbollah confirmed that the leader of this armed group in Lebanon, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, was killed on September 27 in an Israeli airstrike on the southern area of ​​the capital Beirut.

According to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, at the meeting, the two countries' foreign ministers discussed dangerous developments in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Lebanon, in the context of Israel's escalation of military activities with consequences for security in the Middle East region.

Cairo has repeatedly called on the international community to pressure Israel to end the conflict in Gaza, which has killed and injured more than 140,000 Palestinians, mostly children and women, destroyed most of Gaza's infrastructure and displaced most of the population since October 7, 2023.

Egypt also condemned recent Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, which killed more than 700 people and injured hundreds more, saying they were a blatant violation of Lebanon's sovereignty.

According to Xinhua News Agency , on September 28, Mr. Stephane Dujarric - spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said that Mr. Guterres expressed "extreme concern" over the dramatic escalation of the situation in Beirut over the past 24 hours.

"This cycle of violence must end now, and all sides must step back from the brink of disaster," spokesman Stephane Dujarric stressed.

"The Lebanese people, the Israeli people, as well as the entire region, cannot afford a full-scale war," Mr. Dujarric also said.

Meanwhile, many Muslim countries also condemned Israel's violation of Lebanon's sovereignty when the Jewish state attacked the capital Beirut to kill the Hezbollah leader.

Cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has been an almost daily occurrence since the conflict in the Gaza Strip erupted in October 2023. Hezbollah attacks Israel in a show of support for Hamas, prompting Tel Aviv to repeatedly retaliate.

Security Council Resolution 1701 helped end the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, in which Hezbollah launched a cross-border raid that killed three Israeli soldiers and took two hostages. Israel immediately launched an offensive into southern Lebanon. Over 33 days of fighting, some 1,200 people died and one million people were displaced in Lebanon. Israel recorded more than 160 deaths and 500,000 displaced.

The resolution established UNIFIL and called on the Lebanese government and UNIFIL to deploy forces in southern Lebanon and disarm armed groups in the area. Hezbollah was also required to withdraw from southern Lebanon, but it has not yet fulfilled its commitment.

Hezbollah is nominally the constitutional and legitimate political force of the Shiite Muslim community in Lebanon. The group's armed wing operates separately from the LAF structure and is considered an Iranian proxy, part of the Tehran-backed "axis of resistance" against Israel.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/cong-dong-quoc-te-len-tieng-truoc-dien-bien-leo-thang-kich-tinh-o-lebanon-288081.html