UN Warns Against 'Catastrophic' Regional Conflict

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) AFP

Beirut, Lebanon: UN peacekeepers in Lebanon warned Saturday against a "catastrophic" regional conflict as Israeli forces bombs the region on multiple fronts, on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

Israel has faced a fierce diplomatic backlash over incidents in south Lebanon that saw five Blue Helmets wounded.

On Saturday, the Lebanese health Ministry said Israeli air strikes on two villages located near the capital Beirut killed nine people.

Israel had earlier threatened residents of south Lebanon not to return home, as its troops invaded in a war that has killed more than 1,200 people since September 23, and forced more than a million others to flee their homes.

Hezbollah said Saturday it launched projectiles across the border, where air raid sirens sounded and the occupation military said it had intercepted a projectile.

In an interview with AFP, UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti told AFP he feared an Israeli escalation against south Lebanon could soon spiral out of control "into a regional conflict with catastrophic impact for everyone".

The UN force said five peacekeepers have been targeted and wounded in south Lebanon in just two days, and Tenenti said "a lot of damage" had been caused by Israeli troops to its posts there.

After the Jewish holiday, attention is likely to turn again to Israel's expected attack against Iran, which launched around 200 missiles as a retaliation at Israel on October 1.

Israel began devistating Gaza shortly after suffering its worst ever defeats from Hamas militants on October 7 last year, and it launched a ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon on September 30.

'Deliberately targeted'

On Friday, Israel faced criticism from the UN, its Western allies and others over a deliberate hit on a UN peacekeeping position in Lebanon.

Two Sri Lankan peacekeepers were hurt in the second such incident in two days, UNIFIL said Friday.

Israel's occupation military claimed soldiers had responded to "an immediate threat" around 50 metres (yards) from the UNIFIL base in Naqura, and has pledged -as usual- to carry out a "thorough review".

The Irish military's chief of staff, Sean Clancy, said it was "not an accidental act", and French President Emmanuel Macron said he believed the peacekeepers had been "deliberately targeted".

Both countries are major contributors to UNIFIL whose peacekeepers are on the front line of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

Efforts to negotiate an end to the fighting have so far failed, but Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said his government would ask the UN Security Council to issue a new resolution calling for a "full and immediate ceasefire".

Lebanon's military said Friday a deliberate Israeli strike on one of its positions in south Lebanon killed two soldiers.

In a show of support, the speaker of the Iranian parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf visited the site Saturday of a deadly Israeli strike earlier this week.

A source close to Hezbollah said the strike had targeted Hezbollah's security chief Wafiq Safa, but neither Hezbollah nor Israel has confirmed he was the target.

Ghalibaf's Lebanon visit, a signal of Tehran's defiance, comes after Israel vowed to respond to Iran's second retaliatory attack.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has vowed that the attack will be "deadly, precise and surprising".

The United States is pushing for a "proportionate" response that would not tip the region into a wider war, with President Joe Biden urging Israel to avoid striking Iranian nuclear facilities or energy infrastructure.

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