Israel violates Lebanon integrity: Missile hits were needed

Residents survey the damage in a suburb of southern Beirut left in ruins after being targeted by airstrikes. © UNICEF-Dar al Mussawir-Ramzi Haidar

2 October 2024 - Security Council members met in emergency session on Tuesday morning in New York with the Middle East on the brink of all-out war. App users can reprise our live coverage here.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Council “the raging fires on the Middle East are fast becoming an inferno,” and that Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected

“Civilians are paying a terrible price” across the Middle East, “which I utterly condemn”

It’s essential to avoid all-out war in Lebanon “which would have profound and devastating consequences”

He reiterated his strong condemnation of Tuesday’s massive missile attack by Iran on Israel

Meanwhile, the suffering the people of Gaza continue to endure “is beyond imagination”

“It is high time to stop the sickening cycle of escalation after escalation that is leading the people of the Middle East straight over the cliff”

“We cannot look away from the systematic violations of international humanitarian law occurring across the region”

France requested the emergency session following Iran’s decision to launch close to 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday as Israeli forces launched “limited” incursions into southern Lebanon in addition to its widespread and deadly bombing campaign against Hezbollah militants, all against the backdrop of the nearly year-long war in Gaza.

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Syria: ‘We will defend our people and our land’

Syria’s Ambassador Bassam Qusay Al Dahhak said today’s meeting would not be taking place had the Council shouldered its responsibility to resolved disputes over peace and security.

He blamed the US for encouraging Israeli belligerence at a time when it continues to provide unlimited support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

“They continued the escalation in the region pushing it towards a full-on war by continuing their attacks on the States of the region, including my country Syria.”

Just “a few minutes ago”, he said there had been an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in the Syrian capital.

“We reaffirm our legitimate right to defend our people and land, to fight these crimes with all the means guaranteed by international law,” said the Syrian representative.

He added that in the face of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, Syria would spare no effort to provide humanitarian support for civilians escaping the fighting. 

Security Council must enforce a ceasefire: Iraq

Abbas Kadhom Obaid Al-Fatlawi,  Deputy Permanent Representative of Iraq to the UN, said that the inability of the Security Council to end continued Israeli attacks against Palestinian people reflected a “painful reality”.

“The reality is that the Security Council is not making any effective or resolute decisions to stop these violations that allow the occupation to perpetuate its practices and escalate violence in the region,” he said.

He stressed that it is time for the Council to play an effective role to maintain international peace and security.

The Security Council must bear its primary responsibility as accorded to it by the UN Charter, he said, adding that it must adopt binding resolutions to ensure an immediate ceasefire as it did in other conflicts around the world.

“Failure by the Council to play its role opens the door to Israel to persist in its violations, without any real deterrent,” he continued. “This leads to more instability and jeopardises regional and international peace.”

Iran: Missile strikes were necessary, proportionate response

Iranian Ambassador Amir Saied Iravani told the Council that the missile strikes against Israel were a “proportionate response to Israel’s continued terrorist aggressive acts over the past two months” that was “necessary to restore balance and deterrence”.

The action was in full accordance with Tehran’s “inherent right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter and a direct response to the regime’s repeated acts of aggression against Iran, including the violation of Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity during the past months”, he said. 

“Experience has proven that Israel only understands the language of force,” he said, underscoring that “diplomacy has repeatedly failed as Israel views restraint not as a gesture of goodwill, but as a weakness to exploit.” 

He added that while Israel “consistently considers innocent civilians and civilian infrastructure as legitimate targets for aggression and massacre, Iran’s response has only targeted the regime's military and security installations with its defensive missile strikes”. 

He accused the “occupying regime” of Israel of pushing the region to the edge of an all-out unprecedented catastrophe, with no intention of pursuing a ceasefire.  

He further condemned the “US regime” for their aim to “embolden Israel’s criminal actions” through their military support and political backing, thereby paralysing the Security Council from effective decision making, and called on the Council to act.

A cold-blooded attack against civilians: Israel

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon described Tuesday’s attacks by Iran against civilians in his country, regardless of their faiths, as “cold-blooded” and an “unprecedented act of aggression”.

The attacks, he said, forced millions of people into bomb shelters.

“These scenes have not been witnessed since the Blitz in London,” he added, referring to attacks against the UK capital during the Second World War.

“This was a deliberate attempt to strike at the very heart of our society, targeting the most sacred places in Israel – holy sites, mosques, synagogues, and churches. To Iran, there is no holy ground, no purity of life worth protecting.”

Describing the “reality” that Israel faces every day, “terror on our borders, missiles over our heads and bullets in our streets”, the Ambassador urged the Security Council to “understand the situation Israel is forced to live in: we are under attack.”

‘Lebanon and the Lebanese deserve to live,’ representative says

“The policy of putting heads in the sand and fearing, confronting and deterring Israel is no longer useful,” Al-Sayyid Hadi Hashim, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim for Lebanon, stressed. The people of Lebanon and the Government of Lebanon reject war and want to fully implement the resolution 1701 and deploy the Lebanese army in the south along the land border with support from UNIFIL [the UN peacekeeping mission operating along the buffer zone with Israel since 1978].

This situation is likely to continue as long as resolution 1701 is not fully implemented, as long as the focus is on imposing military rather than diplomatic solutions, he cautioned, adding that Lebanon is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and is in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

“Today, we have reached a humanitarian catastrophe, with one million internally displaced people, including thousands on the roads, without food, drink or medication,” he said, thanking the UN for launching an urgent appeal of $426 million.

“Lebanon is today caught between the hammer of the Israeli destruction machine and the ambitions of some in the region,” he said. “Lebanon and the Lebanese deserve to live.”

Lebanon says region is burning from all sides

Al-Sayyid Hadi Hashim, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim for Lebanon said the Middle East region is burning from all sides.

The Israeli Government and its cabinet approved the ground invasion of Lebanon, the first of which began last night, coming 11 months after the barbaric aggression since 8 October, in flagrant violation of the UN Charter, international law, international humanitarian law and all international norms and humanitarian principles.

“Everything Israel says about limited surgical military operations is not true,” he said, pointing to an attack in the village of Ain al-Delb as “the best proof of that”, when on 29 September an Israeli raid targeted a residential building that ended up with 71 people, including dozens of women and children, buried in a mass grave.

Recalling Israeli massacres in 1996 and 2006, he asked “how many times have we come to this Council and warned of the catastrophic situation?”

What is happening today in terms of unprecedented killing, displacement and destruction cannot be tolerated and ignored, he said, pointing to Israel’s intensified aggression and crimes against Lebanon and its capital, Beirut.

All-out war ‘must be avoided in Lebanon at all costs’: Guterres

The UN Secretary-General on Tuesday called for an immediate ceasefire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants, as Israel launched what it described as a “limited” ground incursion into Southern Lebanon. 

Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric issued a statement saying that UN chief António Guterres was “extremely concerned” by the fast escalation of the conflict.

“An all-out war must be avoided in Lebanon at all costs, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon must be respected”, Mr. Dujarric added. 

China: Israel violating ‘sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon’

China's Ambassador Fu Cong told the Council that China is opposed “to all acts that violate the basic norms of international relations and condemn all violence and attacks against civilians.”

He underlined the importance of the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of all States adding that China shares “the position of the United Nations that any Israeli crossing into Lebanon violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon and contravenes the provisions of the Security Council resolution 1701.”

Echoing the views of other speakers he said that an “all-out war is on the verge of breaking out,” and urged “all parties, in particular Israel, to exercise restraint and refrain from any action that could lead to further escalation of the situation.”

Ambassador Fu also highlighted what he referred to as “groundless accusations” made by Israel against the UN Secretary-General. - UN News Live