Lebanon | Peacekeepers warn of ‘catastrophic’ regional conflict

(Beirut) The United Nations Interim Force deployed in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) warned on Saturday of a “catastrophic” regional conflict, as the Israeli army battles Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas, allies of Iran.

At least 15 people were killed on Saturday in Israeli raids on three villages north and south of Beirut, outside the strongholds of pro-Iranian Hezbollah, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported in the evening.

The war in Gaza, triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023 on Israeli soil, and that in Lebanon are accompanied by an escalation between Israel and Iran, with Israeli leaders threatening to retaliate to an Iranian attack of missiles on 1^is october.

After weakening Hamas in Gaza, Israel moved the war front to Lebanon in September, with the aim of moving Hezbollah away from the border areas and stopping its rocket fire to allow the return to the north of Israel of some 60,000 displaced inhabitants.

“Unacceptable”

The front opened in October 2023 by Hezbollah against Israel, in support of Hamas, transformed into open war on September 23 with the start of intense Israeli bombings on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, killing in particular the leader of the movement Hassan Nasrallah.

The Israeli army then launched a ground offensive on September 30 in southern Lebanon.

“The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel is not just a conflict that involves two countries. Very soon it could be a regional conflict with a catastrophic impact for all,” UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told AFP on Saturday.

Israel came under fire on Friday after UNIFIL accused Israeli troops of “repeatedly” and “deliberately” firing on its positions.

Five peacekeepers were injured in 48 hours, according to UNIFIL, whose positions had suffered “a lot of damage”, said Mr. Tenenti.

The Israeli army said it fired in the direction of a “threat”.

US President Joe Biden asked Israel to no longer fire on UN forces in Lebanon, while his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron deemed it “unacceptable” that they were being targeted “deliberately by Israeli forces”.

On Saturday, at least 40 countries, including 34 contributors to UNIFIL, gave “full” support to the force and urged protection of peacekeepers.

Since October 2023, more than 2,100 people have been killed in Lebanon, including more than 1,200 since September 23, according to an AFP count based on official figures. The UN has recorded nearly 700,000 displaced people.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said nine people were killed Saturday in Israeli raids targeting the villages of Maaysra and Barja, north and south of Beirut, outside Hezbollah strongholds.

In the evening, a strike targeted a market in Nabatiyeh, in southern Lebanon, according to the official Lebanese agency ANI. The Israeli army recently called on residents of 25 communities, including this large city, to move north.

After the intensification on September 23 of Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold bordering northern Israel, tens of thousands of families fled this region, according to the UN.

The Israeli army announced for its part that Hezbollah had fired around 320 projectiles towards Israel during Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day, from Friday evening to sunset Saturday.

Emmanuel Macron urged Hezbollah to “immediately stop” strikes against Israel, adding that a ceasefire must be “immediately put in place” in Lebanon.

During Yom Kippur, the Israeli army also said it struck 280 “terrorist targets” in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

“Children are dying”

On Saturday, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, visiting Beirut, denounced the “crimes” of the “savage Zionist regime” in Lebanon.

The day before, Iran repeated that it was “ready to defend its sovereignty”, while Israel promised its sworn enemy a “surprising” response to its attack on 1^is october.

In the devastated and besieged Gaza Strip, the Israeli army continued its offensive, mainly shelling the region of Jabalia (North), where it accuses Hamas of seeking to reconstitute its forces.

Israel also called on residents of an area near Jabalia to evacuate.

“They tell us to go south, but we don’t want to go there […] some tried to go, but they were shot at,” said Sami Asliya, a 27-year-old man who is in Gaza after leaving Jabalia.

The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people in Israel, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures and including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in Gaza.

At least 42,175 Palestinians were killed, the majority civilians, in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to data from the Hamas government’s Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.