Hours before a host of countries, including the United States, called for a three-week ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency session on the subject, with Jerusalem’s envoy telling the body “the time for half measures is over.”
In the midst of the United Nations’ annual General Assembly, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres briefed the council on Wednesday evening, warning that “hell is breaking loose in Lebanon.”
With northern Israel largely uninhabitable since Hezbollah joined the war a day after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, residents of Southern Lebanon have now been fleeing in larger numbers over the last few days amid intense Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah assets in the region.
Both communities, Guterres said, “must be able to return to their homes and live in safety and security, without fear.”
Wednesday’s meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of France, Lebanon, Russia and the United Kingdom.
Robert Wood, Washington’s deputy U.N. ambassador, said the Biden administration “repeatedly made clear” that the council needed to pay heed to the origins of this latest round of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which started on Oct. 8.
He cited Hezbollah’s build-up of weapons, largely provided by its benefactor, Iran, and the terror group’s presence—in violation of multiple Security Council resolutions—close to the Israel-Lebanon border.
“Nobody wants to see a repeat of the full-blown war that occurred in 2006, but the path to enduring stability goes beyond ending cross-Blue Line strikes,” said Wood, referring to the deadly 2006 Lebanon War. “It must end with a comprehensive understanding relating to the Blue Line that has real implementation mechanisms.”
Najib Mikati, Lebanon’s prime minister, told the council that his country is facing “a blatant violation of our sovereignty and human rights.”
Lebanon has been the “victim of an electronic cyber aggression and of an air and maritime aggression that can turn into a ground aggression and can become an all-out regional war,” he said.
Mikati added that he hoped Wednesday’s meeting would end “with a serious solution based on the joint efforts of all the members of the Security Council to put pressure on Israel to achieve an immediate ceasefire on all fronts and to restore stability and security to our region.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said the situation on the border, if left untreated, would precipitate an “all out, unprecedented catastrophe.”
Israel’s U.N. envoy Danny Danon said it was long past due for the Security Council to enforce U.N. Resolution 1701, which was meant to disarm Hezbollah and place the Lebanese Armed Forces on the border in place of the terror group.
“Never again will the Jewish people hide from the monsters whose purpose in life is to murder Jews,” said Danon. Israel prefers a diplomatic solution, he said, but if none arises “we will use all the means at our disposal in accordance with international law.”
A short time later, Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and the United States released a joint statement calling the situation on the border “intolerable” and presenting “an unacceptable risk of a broader regional escalation.
The countries called for Israel and Lebanon—though not specifically Hezbollah—to endorse an immediate three-week ceasefire “to provide space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement consistent with UNSCR 1701, and the implementation of UNSCR 2735 regarding a ceasefire in Gaza.”
U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters that significant support for the ceasefire call came from Europe, “as well as the Arab nations.” He said he’d have more to say on the topic on Thursday.
