The world is on the brink of a catastrophe, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Friday, pointing to the risks of a potential devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
The head of the Shia militia, Hassan Nasrallah, warned on Wednesday that Hezbollah is prepared for a full-scale conflict with Israel and could invade the Jewish state’s northern territories in case of further escalation.
The statement came after one of the group’s senior commanders, Hajj Sami Taleb Abdullah, was killed in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon last week.
“One rash move – one miscalculation – could trigger a catastrophe that goes far beyond the border, and frankly, beyond imagination,” the UN secretary general told reporters at a press conference, adding that “the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.” He called on both sides to “urgently recommit” to peace.
“The world must say loudly and clearly: immediate de-escalation is not only possible – it is essential. There is no military solution,” he said, adding that many people have already lost their lives or been driven from their homes both in Lebanon and Israel.
UN peacekeepers on the ground are already “working to de-escalate tensions and help prevent miscalculation, in an extremely challenging environment,” Guterres added, without providing any specific details.
Rocket exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah have forced more than 53,000 Israelis and almost 100,000 Lebanese to flee their homes over the past nine months.
Earlier this week, the Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned that the Jewish state was “very close” to a decision that would “change the rules of the game” against the Shia militia.
The US has reportedly grown “increasingly concerned” over the prospect of the Israel-Hamas war turning into a larger Middle East conflict, involving Hezbollah and potentially American troops. Several anonymous White House officials accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a discussion with Axios this week of hampering de-escalation efforts with his claims that Washington was “withholding weapons from Israel.”
Israel launched a major military operation in Gaza last October, in response to a deadly attack by Hamas that claimed the lives of some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken captive. A nine-month offensive by the IDF, which involved heavy bombing and a ground invasion of Gaza, has claimed the lives of 37,500 Palestinians, according to the local authorities.