•Thick smoke rises above the southern suburbs of Beirut after Israel strike last weekend
The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting today on the escalating violence in Lebanon, said Slovenia’s mission to the UN, which holds the rotating presidency of the council.
“After consulting with the delegations, the presidency intends to schedule the briefing on the situation in Lebanon for tomorrow, Wednesday September 25 at 6:00 pm (2200 GMT),” the mission said yesterday, adding that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres would speak at the meeting, reports AFP.
Earlier yesterday, the UN chief warned world leaders that Lebanon was on “the brink” as clashes escalated between Israel and Hezbollah ahead of US President Joe Biden’s final appearance at the global body’s signature annual event.
The gathering of dozens of world leaders, the high point of the diplomatic calendar, comes as Lebanese authorities say Israeli strikes killed 558 people — 50 of them children.
“We should all be alarmed by the escalation. Lebanon is at the brink,” Guterres said.
As world leaders gathered in Manhattan for the annual flurry of speeches and face-to-face diplomacy, UN Security Council member France called Monday for an emergency meeting on the crisis engulfing the Middle East.
As the toll in Lebanon climbed, focus shifted away from the situation in Gaza, and the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell warned “we are almost in a full-fledged war.”
The United States, Israel’s closest ally, again warned against a full-blown ground invasion of Lebanon, with a senior US official promising to bring “concrete” ideas for de-escalation to the UN this week.
It is unclear what progress can be made to defuse the situation in Lebanon as efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza, which Israel has relentlessly pounded since October 2023, have come to nothing.
Guterres cautioned against “the possibility of transforming Lebanon (into) another Gaza.”
