Following a tumultuous week during which several Israeli attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon brought the country to the brink of total war, international reactions, particularly from Western nations, called for restraint and a cease-fire, expressing concern over escalating tensions between the Shiite group and the Israeli state.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, thousands of explosions from communication devices in the hands of Hezbollah activists resulted in dozens of deaths and thousands of injuries. The Islamist group and the Lebanese government attributed the attack to Israel. On Friday, an Israeli raid in southern Beirut killed several senior officials from the party's elite military unit, while also resulting in numerous civilian casualties.
In this context, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern on Sunday that Lebanon could become "a second Gaza." The Palestinian enclave is currently devastated by a war that has already claimed over 40,000 lives, following Hamas's "Deluge of al-Aqsa" operation on Oct. 7, 2023. The Lebanese front was opened by Hezbollah the following day, Oct. 8, 2023.
"What worries me is the possibility that Lebanon could become a second Gaza," he alarmed on CNN in the lead-up to the U.N. General Assembly week in New York.
Antonio Guterres also noted that it was "clear" that neither Israel nor Hamas "really want" a cease-fire in Gaza. "It's a tragedy because this is a war that needs to end," he lamented.
For her part, U.N. representative in Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, warned of an "imminent catastrophe" in the Middle East, asserting that the solution to the escalation between Hezbollah and Israel could not be military. "As the region is on the brink of imminent catastrophe, we cannot say it enough: there is NO military solution to make either side safer," she wrote on her X account.
