At the UN Security Council, the UN human rights chief said Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah assets violated international law and could amount to a war crime.
A senior United Nations official told the Security Council that further violence between Israel and the pro-Iranian groups Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon risks triggering a far more destructive conflict.
“We risk witnessing a conflagration that could dwarf even the devastation and suffering seen so far,” U.N. political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the 15-member council on Friday, which met Friday to discuss this week’s attacks on Hezbollah.
“It is not too late to avoid such follies. There is still room for diplomacy,” she said. “I also urge member states that have influence over the parties to use it now.”
As its war in Gaza drags on for nearly a year, Israel killed at least 14 people and wounded 66 others in an airstrike on the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday.
The Israeli military said a senior Hezbollah commander and other leading figures in the Lebanese movement were among the dead, and vowed to wage a new military campaign until it secures the area around the Lebanese border.
Hezbollah did not confirm the death of any commander on Friday.
The Israeli airstrike follows two days of attacks in which Hezbollah beepers and walkie-talkies exploded, killing 37 people and wounding thousands. The attacks have been attributed to 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’s communications devices violated international law and may amount to a war crime.
Turk said it was “difficult to conceive” how attacks on Hezbollah’s communications devices “could be consistent with the key principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attacks under international humanitarian law.”
He added that he was “appalled” by attacks using communications devices.
“This has triggered widespread fear, panic and horror among the people of Lebanon, who have already been suffering from an increasingly unstable situation since October 2023 and are collapsing under a severe and prolonged economic crisis. This cannot be the new normal,” he said.
Turk called for an independent, thorough and transparent investigation and for those who ordered and carried out these attacks to be held accountable for their actions.
US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told the Council that the United States expects all parties to respect international humanitarian law and take all reasonable measures to minimize harm to civilians, particularly in densely populated areas.
“It is imperative that, even as the facts regarding the latest incidents – in which, I repeat, the United States played no role – are revealed, all parties refrain from any action that could plunge the region into a devastating war.”
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese 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 said it will use force if necessary to ensure its citizens can return to their homes in northern Israel.